Harry Potter: Hogwarts' Guardian
by airwatcher
Summary: Harry Potter never grew up knowing magic. Suddenly he is thrown into an arena where controlling the elements, summoning creatures, and flying brromsticks are the norm. Read as Harry goes from an orphaned boy wizard to the man known Hogwarts' Guardian.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! It's been awhile since I've posted here. I think the last time I posted an actual chapter on this site was like four or five years ago. Anyhow, I was reading a Harry Potter headcannon on Facebook about Harry and his pet corn snake, and I decided I wanted to write that. So, here we are. Hope fiction writing hasn't gotten too rusty. This first chapter should be a run of the mill intro chapter. I'm hoping to post once a month for this and actually be consistent, though we'll see how long that last. But since it's been a while, I'll probably post chapters 2 and three within the coming week as well. Four will probably come mid to late December. Anyways, hope you enjoy!**

**~Airwatcher**

**Chapter 1**

It was a cold night as Harry sat on the floor. He was currently sitting on the ground of a house in the middle of nowhere. It all started with a letter. A single letter addressed to one, Harry Potter. Harry didn't understand why it had upset his uncle so much, but what he did know was that it had driven his uncle to leave Surrey and go across England to god knows where. The only consolation that Harry had was that he didn't have to sleep in his tinny little cupboard. Harry continued to draw on the dirt a picture of a birthday cake. Glancing at Dudley's watch, he saw the time it was: 11:58.

"Almost time," whispered Harry as he lay on his stomach, as he waited for his birthday to come. The day was July 30th, and within a few minutes it would be July 31st, the day of his birth and the day he would turn 11. Harry didn't know what would happen, but perhaps since they were not in Surrey, Harry would have a more enjoyable birthday. Of course, that would be if the Dursley's acted like they normally did, but considering the extreme lengths that Vernon went to escape the letters, Harry had no idea what would happen. Harry took another look at Dudley's watch and with glee watched as the numbers went from 11:59 to 12:00. "Happy Birthday Harry. Make a wish!" With that, Harry took a deep breath and blew at the candle part of his dirt picture cake. As soon as the top of the candles had been blown away, something began pounding on the door to the house. Harry bolted upright, with Dudley doing the same. Scared, Harry fled to hide behind a crevice in the wall while Dudley just stood there. Harry could also see his uncle come down with a gun in his hand while his aunt stood behind him. Vernon trained the barrel of his shot gun on the entrance, his finger on the trigger, ready to fire. Finally, the door fell down with lightning lighting up behind the man who knocked the door down, obscuring his features. The dursleys all screamed in terror as Vernon put the gun up to defend himself. The towering giant took a few intimidating steps forward into the house, the lightning outside, still obscuring his features before he looked at the people staring at him.

"Sorry about that," said the man in a much lighter tone than Harry expected as he turned around and picked up the door and placed it in the doorway. In that time, Vernon had the barrel of the shotgun trained on the man, his hand back on the trigger of the gun.

"Get out of here! I demand that you leave at once! You are breaking in, and you have no right to do so!" yelled Vernon as he held onto the gun, although not trained well as the gun was shaking in his hands. Hagrid slowly walked over to the man and stood face to face with Vernon, even though Vernon was standing on the stair case.

"Ah, shut up Dursley, you great prune!" said the man as he grasped onto the barrel of the rifle and twisted it backwards so that the barrel of the shotgun was now pointing upwards. Vernon had then pulled the trigger when it shot a bullet up into the wood panels above them. Everyone jumped at the sound as Hagrid turned around to look at Dudley. "I may not have seen you since you were a baby, Harry, but…you're a bit bigger than I expected, especially in the middle."

"I…I'm not Harry," stuttered Dudley as he looked down at his feet, not wanting to look at the giant man in the eyes. It was then Harry stepped out of his hiding place to look at the massive, overbearing man.

"I am Harry."

"Yes, you are quite. You are indeed, Harry. Now, I have something for you. I imagine you'll like it. I may have sat on it at some point during my journey here, but I reckon it'll taste fine, just the same," said the man as he handed a white package to Harry. "Baked it myself, words and all." Harry undid the blue string that was keeping the box together and slid the cover up to reveal a pink birthday cake with the words, 'Happy Birthday Harry'.

"Thank you," said Harry, genuinely thankful for his first gift. He had never received a gift from anyone before. It would be a cake that Harry would always remember.

"Well, it's not everyday a young man turn eleven years old, now is it?" asked the man standing before Harry before he sat down on the couch and pulled out his umbrella. Harry was about to ask who he was when the man shot a few puffs of fire into the fireplace. Harry looked on in awe as the Dursleys looked on in disgust and horror. Slowly, Harry set the box down on a nearby table before walking over to the man to make an inquiry.

"Excuse me, sir, but who are you?" asked Harry, tilting his head to the side.

"The name is Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. But of course you know all about Hogwarts."

"Sorry," said Harry as he scratched his head in confusion, "I don't know anything about this Hogwarts."

"Sorry? You don't need to be sorry Harry," said Hagrid, placing his big hand on Harry's shoulder before turning to glare at the Dursleys over his shoulder. "It should be them who is sorry. Merlin, I was told that you weren't getting your letters, but this is outrageous! Did you ever wonder where your mum and dad learned everything they knew?" Hagrid's eyes snapped open as he turned to look back at the Dursleys again. Right before he lashed out at them again, Hagrid took a few breaths to calm himself before looking back at Harry. "You're a wizard Harry, and you'll probably become as great as your parents were, with the right training of course."

"A what?" asked Harry, thinking he had misheard.

"A wizard, Harry. Like I said, you'll make a great wizard once you're trained up. I'd wager my job on that."

"But…that can't be right," said Harry with confusion entering his eyes. "I mean, I can't be a wizard. I'm just a normal person. Just a person like anyone else in this world!"

"Well then, Harry," said Hagrid, as he chuckled at the denial that he was a wizard, "Have you ever done anything that you couldn't explain? Anything when you were upset or emotional?" Harry looked at Hagrid, and realized that he had. He had done so many times during his time at his elementary school, and no one ever believed him when he said that he didn't do those actions. But now, those actions were starting to make sense. "Here," said Hagrid as he pulled an envelope out of his jacket, "I believe this belongs to you."

'Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on the first of September. We expect to her back from you by no later than July 31st.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall'

"That's today," said Harry as he finished reading the letter. "I can't reply in time to be accepted!"

"Which you won't!" yelled Vernon as he stomped over to stand behind Harry. "We swore when we took the boy in that we would put a stop to all this rubbish!"

"You knew?" asked Harry in surprise. "You knew all along and you never told me? How could you?"

"Of course we knew," said Petunia as she looked down at her nephew from where she stood on the stairs. "How could you not be? You, like my _perfect _sister, being who she was? Oh, she got a letter just like you did. And she too, disappeared from us for nine months every year to that _school_, and when she came back she was always doing something, something freakish! But my parents, they were so proud of her. I was the only one to see her for what she was! A freak! And I knew you would end up just the same as she did!" Petunia came to a stop to take a breath as she stood behind Vernon. "But then, she met that _Potter Boy_ and they had you. I knew all along that you would be just a strange, just as abnormal! And then, would you know it, she got herself blown up! And we got stuck with you!"

"Blown up?" asked Harry as Petunia told him something different than what she had for all these years, "You told me my parents died in a car crash!"

"A car crash?" roared Hagrid as he looked at Vernon and Petunia. "A car cash killing Lily and James Potter? What are you, insane? That is an outrage! This is a scandal!"

"He will not be going," said Vernon, pronouncing each word with purpose.

"Oh?" asked Hagrid. "And I suppose you, a muggle, is capable of stopping a wizard from attending the school of his choice? I wonder how that would play out."

"Muggle? What's that?" asked Harry, looking up at Hagrid.

"Non-magic folk," said Hagrid. "Harry has had his name down in the book of students to attend Hogwarts ever since he was born. He will be going to one of the finest schools of witchcraft and wizardry, and he will be under the finest headmaster to grace Hogwart's halls since Godric Gryffindor, Albus Dumbledore!" Vernon glared up at Hagrid's face.

"There is no way that I will pay for some crack addicted lunatic to teach my nephew magic tricks!" yelled Vernon. As soon as those words left Vernon's mouth, Hagrid's umbrella was immediately pointed at Vernon.

"Never…insult…Albus Dumbledore in front of me," whispered Hagrid as he looked at the Dursleys with a cold glint in his eyes. It was then Hagrid heard the sound of someone eating and his eyes were drawn to Dudley, who had taken Harry's cake and begun to eat it, with his back turned to Hagrid. Hagrid then pointed his umbrella at Dudley and shot a beam of light at his butt. Suddenly, a pig's tail began to grow, gaining the screams of all three Dursleys. Meanwhile, Harry laughed as all three Dursleys ran around in terror before running all the way upstairs. "Oh, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention that," said Hagrid, as he looked at Harry. "Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to do magic."

"Sure. As long as you can get me out of here," said Harry with a wide grin.

"Now that, I can do," said Hagrid as he took out a mirror and said the words, "Albus Dumbledore." The mirror's surface rippled before the image of Albus Dumbledore came into view.

"Ah, Hagrid, I trust you have secured young Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore.

"Yes sir. I will be taking him to the Leaky Cauldron, under a cloak of course, and get him a room there. I will stay there with him until McGonagall comes later today to take him shopping for school supplies. I will also make sure that McGonagall gets his key tomorrow. And I would like to ask permission to tell him why he is so famous."

"Of course. Good day to you." The mirror went blank as Dumbledore ceased talking. Hagrid then put the mirror away.

"Okay, we best be going now. Hold onto my hand now. Is there anything that you need to grab?" Harry shook his head as he grabbed onto Hagrid's outstretched hand. "Activate," whispered Hagrid as he took out a silver coin. Suddenly, Harry felt something grab onto his navel before both Hagrid and Harry disappeared from the shack. They both landed in alley, with Harry stumbling as he tried to get back his balance. "Okay there, Harry?"

"Yeah, just trying to get my balance," replied Harry as he leaned against the wall of the alley.

"Good. Well, the first thing is that I need you to wear this cloak," said Hagrid, taking out a black cloak with a hood. "I will explain later, but it wouldn't do for you to just walk into the Leaky Cauldron without a disguise. It would cause a ruckus. When we get to your room, I'll explain everything." Harry nodded and placed the cloak on around his shoulders without any complaint, before pulling up the hood. Hagrid nodded at Harry before walking into the Leaky Cauldron with Harry.

"'Ello Hagrid, how are you?" asked the bartender as he wiped the glasses.

"Doing just fine, Tom. Tom, do you have a room or two available at the moment? My friend and I need somewhere to sleep until morning."

"Why yes, I do," replied Tom as he took out two keys. "Here you go. Down the hall, and you will find room numbers 10 and 11. Eleven is for you, Hagrid. Ten is for your friend. I'll see you in the morning." Hagrid thanked Tom before walking down the hallway to the two rooms specified and opened the door to the one that would be his room.

"Come in Harry. There are some things that I need to explain to you before I let you get some sleep." Hagrid sat down on his bed while Harry took a seat in the chair in the corner of the room. "Harry, you do not know this, but when you give your name to any wizard in Britain, they will most likely know who you are."

"Why would they know who I am? It's not like I've met every single person in Britain…"

"It's because of what you have done. You see, Harry, before you were born there was a war going on in the wizarding world. There was a man and his followers who were attacking anyone they believed not worthy of being a wizard. Many muggleborns, muggles, half-bloods, and any purebloods who did not believe in their cause. But the turning point during the war was in 1981. The man who started this war, You-Know-Who-"

"Who?" asked Harry, not understanding what Hagrid just said.

"Oh. You-Know-Who is what we call the man who started the wizarding war. But his real name is…Voldemort. But it has become so taboo to say that no one ever says it anymore, well everyone except Albus Dumbledore, great man he is. Anyways, Voldemort tried to attack you, Harry. For some reason he believed you a threat. Now your parents died trying to stop him, but when he came to you something interesting happened. The curse he used to kill you was the killing curse, a curse that kills anyone it comes into contact with."

"But what is so special about me, and how does that relate to Voldemort?"

"Shush, don't use his name. Just use the nickname. Anyways, it is special because when You-Know-Who tried to use that curse on you when you were but a babe, the curse rebounded back at him, destroying him. Since then, you have become known as the boy-who-lived."

"The boy-who-lived?"

"Yes, for being the only person to ever survive the killing curse, that is what you have become known as, and it is for that reason that you have gained fame within the wizarding world."

"So…I'm a celebrity?" asked Harry as he tilted his head in confusion.

"Yes. This must be hard for you to take in, but that is what happened. Just promise me one thing when everyone finds out. Promise me that you will not change because of the fame. Stay the same person and you will be fine."

"I will Hagrid."

"Good. Now here are two things for you," said Hagrid as he pass Harry two keys. One was gold and the other was bronze. "The gold key is for your vault in Gringotts. The bronze key is for the room next door. When you go to get gold, the person who is taking you there will explain the different types of money. Now go get some rest. You will need it." Harry nodded and walked into the room next door to get some sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey all! Here's the newest chapter of the story. Hope you all enjoy. Going to start having a schedule in place now. Every saturday evening/sunday morning, the newest chapter will be released. Hope you all enjoy.**

**~Airwatcher**

**Chapter 2:**

Harry opened his eyes to knocking on his door. Slowly, Harry got out of bed and walked over to the knocking and saw Hagrid standing in front of him.

"'Ello Harry. It's time for you to go shopping for your supplies. You don't need to keep that cloak on, but if you don't want everyone coming to shake your hand while in the Leaky Cauldron, I would suggest that you do. The person who is taking you to get your supplies is Professor McGonagall. She is a professor at Hogwarts and the Deputy Headmistress. But first, here are some extra clothes so you don't have to go out in sleepwear," said Hagrid as he passed Harry a shirt and a pair of jeans. Harry thanked Hagrid before pulling on the pants and shirt before grabbing the cloak and pulling the hood up. Harry walked into the main area of the pub with Hagrid and the two of them walked towards where McGonagall and another female were waiting.

"Hagrid, I suppose this is him?" asked McGonagall, as she knew what the boy was trying to do.

"Aye. I imagine he'll take off the hood once you take leave from the pub. He would just rather not have everyone clamoring over him."

"Indeed," said McGonagall. "I can't imagine anyone wanting that to happen. Well, I'll be off. Does he have his key?"

"Aye. I gave him the key to the trust vault, like Dumbledore told me. But if you're asking about any other vaults that Lily and James had, well I wasn't given keys to those."

"That is fine. So far as I know, Lily and James only had one vault. Thank you for your assistance."

"Always a pleasure," said Hagrid before he walked off.

"Alright you two," said McGonagall, "It's time for us to be going. But first, I will introduce you two. Ria, this person is Harry Potter, but for reasons you will find out later, it is better for him to have his face obscured in crowded areas. Harry, this is Ria Kachmer, a muggleborn witch. She lives in the same neighborhood as your aunt and uncle. After we are done shopping, I will be returning you to your relatives." Harry looked at Ria. Ria was a little taller than he was, with pale blue eyes and shoulder length straight black hair. At first glance, she looked incredibly innocent. Her eyes wide as she looked around the magical pub, trying to spot all the differences between a muggle pub and a magical pub. Harry then turned to look at the professor.

"Please, Professor, I don't want to go back to that house," pleaded Harry. McGonagall looked into Harry's eyes for a bit before replying.

"Hmm. I will see if we can do something about that, but for now, let's get on with our shopping. First, we'll need to go to Gringotts. Harry, you received the key for your vault from Hagrid, yes?" Harry nodded. "Good. Well, let's be on our way." The group of the three stood up and walked to the back of the pub, where there was a wall obstructing their path. The professor took out her wand and began tapping the bricks before stepping back. Before either of the eleven year old students could speak up, the bricks started rearranging themselves and opening up to reveal an entrance. "Welcome to Diagon Alley."

"Diagon Alley?" asked Ria as she looked at the amount of people walking through the busy marketplace. Harry slowly lowered his hood, allowing Ria the first good luck at what Harry looked like. What she saw surprised her. She expected someone incredibly famous seeing as how he didn't want his identity to be known, but instead it was a boy with unruly hair and circular damaged glasses.

"Yes, Ria, Diagon Alley. It is where everyone goes to shop, but before we go to any of the shops, we have to go to Gringotts, the bank where all money is stored. Of course, since you have none stored in the bank, you will be given a vault, with funds transferred to your vault from the Hogwarts Vault, which gives money to all muggleborn students."

"What about Harry?" asked Ria. "Does he not need money from the bank?"

"Harry is what you would call muggle raised. His parents were magical, so they already have a vault set up for him, to which he was given the key last night. He will not need any extra money, but thank you for being considerate." Harry, meanwhile, had not heard anything of the previous conversation. Right now, he was taking the sight of Diagon Alley, and boy was he surprised. He had never seen this many people in one place, wait scratch that. He had never seen so many people, period. There were people rushing from shop to shop with a multitude of bags and kids who were just as skinny and lanky as him.

"Are you coming?" Harry snapped back into reality when he saw that Ria was waiting for him to follow them, and so quickly walked through the entrance to Diagon Alley. Harry looked behind and was immensely surprised when he saw the bricks rearranging themselves back to their original state. Harry followed Ria and McGonagall through the crowds, weaving through the masses until they finally stood before the great bank of Gringotts. When they walked in, Harry saw some of the weirdest looking creatures he had ever seen.

"Professor, what are those creatures?" whispered Harry as he walked beside the professor.

"Those are Goblins, and they are an extremely proud and violent race, so whatever you do, do not get on their bad side. It will not end well for you. Treat them with respect, and they will most likely do the same for you. Now, take out your key, and when I tell you to, present it to the goblin." The three then walked over to one of the Goblins sitting at a desk.

"How may I help you?" asked the goblin without looking up from his work.

"First, I would like to set up a regular-security vault under the name of Ria Kachmer with Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall as the magical guardians. I would then like for 2000 galleons to be transferred from the Hogwarts Vault to the vault of Ria Kachmer. Finally, Mr. Potter would like to visit his trust vault.

"Very well," said the goblin as he turned around and spoke in snarls and growls to another one of the goblins behind him. "The vault has been taken care of. Here is the key." A silver key with golden outlines was handed to Minerva, who handed it to Ria. "Now, I believe you will want to visit both of them. Griphook!" Hastily, another goblin came forwards. "Take Mr. Potter, Ms. McGonagall, and Ms. Kachmer to Vaults 687 and 782."

"Yes sir. Come with me." The goblin turned around without waiting for the three magic users. All three of them walked at a brisk pace in order to keep up with the goblin. The goblin led them to a cart, on which they all sat down. Soon, the cart was sliding forwards at extremely high speeds. Harry and Ria screamed as the cart flew down the track, doing many twists and turns. At one point, the cart did four back to back loops, resulting in Ria losing her breakfast. All the while, McGonagall sat in the cart looking like the definition of class, not even swaying as the cart moved. Finally, the cart came to an abrupt stop, almost forcing the two kids out of their seats.

"I'm never doing this again," groaned Ria.

"What are you talking about? That was incredible!" exclaimed Harry as he grinned from ear to ear. Ria looked at Harry like he had grown a second head before turning to follow Griphook.

"Lamp, please," said Griphook. Minerva turned around and grabbed one of the lamps and walked off the cart with the two children behind her, handing the lamp to the goblin. Harry took out the key, knowing that he would be needing it soon. "Key, please." Harry took the lamp from the goblin and handed him his golden key. The goblin placed the key into the keyhole, and turned before handing the key back to Harry and taking back the lamp. The door opened to reveal piles of gold, silver, and bronze.

"Uh…what are these?" asked Harry, looking at McGonagall.

"The gold ones are the galleons. Those are the highest valued currency in the wizarding world. The silver ones are sickles. There are 17 sickles for every galleon. The bronze ones are knuts. There are 493 knuts for every galleon and 29 knuts for every sickle."

"One more question. How am I supposed to carry all the money? I didn't bring a bag with me."

"Here you go," said McGonagall as she handed Harry a medium-sized money pouch. Harry then went about putting 100 gold coins, 50 silver coins, and 25 bronze coins in the bag.

"That should be enough, right?"

"Yes, that should. Unless you want to buy a special trunk or extra books, then that will be more than enough." Harry was about to leave when he noticed a book in the back of the vault. Walking over to the book, Harry picked it up and noticed the title.

"Dueling and the usage of every spell. By: Godric Gryffindor and Hardian Gryffindor," said Harry as he read off the title. Harry then turned to look at Minerva. "Can I take this?"

"It is yours," said Minerva, "But I would advise putting it somewhere safe so you don't lose your grip on it during the cart ride and until you have your own trunk. If you would like, I can make it smaller so that you can put it in your pocket."

"Please."

"Master Goblin, may I take my wand out for the usage of making the book smaller?" asked Minerva as she turned to look at the small creature standing near the cart.

"As long as it is used only for that purpose, then you have my permission," said Griphook. Minerva nodded and took out her wand and pointed it at the book was holding. Suddenly, the book began to shrink until it was the size of the Gringott's key. Harry placed the book in his pocket before stepping out of the vault and closing the door. He then walked over to the cart and sat down. Minerva and Ria followed and soon they were off to vault 782. When they got to the vault, they went through the same process of opening the vault as had happened when they went to Harry's vault. However, in this vault, instead of just gold, there were seven shelves lined with books.

"What are-"

"The books, Ria, are the books that you will need for Hogwarts. The lowest shelf has the books for your first year. Because you are a muggleborn and need money to pay for your tuition, that also means you will be given second-hand books. It is just the nature of things."

"It is fine," said Ria. "As long as I get to attend school, I am fine with that."

"Well, it's a good thing that you are humble. Anyways, I would suggest that you grab about 50 galleons. That should cover the costs of the wand, robes, and anything else that you might need." Ria nodded her head and took the money pouch from McGonagall's outstretched hands and filled the pouch up with golden coins. As Ria was doing that, McGonagall had placed the books into a bag and carried them onto the cart where Harry had remained. After exiting the bank, the first thing that they did was head to the store that sold trunks.

Before even entering, Harry could see a number of different trunks. There were a few with padlocks, a few with just a normal latch, and even one that looked like they were a trunk within a trunk. And each of these trunks were colored differently. Red, white, and green. As they entered the shop, Harry could see that there were even more trunk varieties. Just at a glance, Harry could see at least 20 different types of trunks.

"Ah, Minerva, how are you doing on this fine day. It's been many a day since I've seen you last. I believe the last time I saw you in my shop was during the rise of you-know-who. Anyways, what is it that brings you to my humble store?" asked a man with graying hair.

"Marcus. It has indeed been a long time since I've set foot in this establishment. Anyways, I'm looking to buy two trunks for the young man and woman behind me."

"Ah, Mr. Potter. You look just like your father, but you have your mother's eyes. Though, I expect that you will be hearing that from anyone who met your parents. But before I get to you, let's take a look at the young lady. Ladies first, right? What is your name, miss?"

"Ria. Ria Kachmer."

"Well, Ms. Ria, let me ask you what is your spending budget for your trunk?" Ria turned to look at McGonagall, not knowing how much would be a good amount to spend on the trunk.

"Let's say…ten to twenty galleons at the most," said the professor.

"Right then," said Marcus as he grabbed three trunks from off the shelves. "These are three types that you will be looking at. The first one is your basic trunk with very little security. The only thing keeping it closed, the latches, is the only form of security on this trunk. The next trunk has a little more in the form of security. This one comes with a padlock, which can have an actual key or be keyed to your wand. But it is possible to break the padlock, making it useless if the padlock is broken. The final one that you can buy with your spending budget is the one with a number dial, a padlock, and a password. The padlock works the same as the one I just explained and the number dial works much like one you would see on a bicycle lock. The password, however, is not entered, but is told verbally. So, which will it be?" Ria looked at the three trunks, all of them made from the same material and had the same color.

"Two questions. Are all your trunks the same color? And are all your trunks made from the same material?"

"I can get you a trunk in brown, green, white, red, and blue. As for the material, well I do make trunks in other materials, just not in your pricing range. Any other questions?"

"Nope. I'll take the one with a padlock. And I'll choose to have the key rather than my wand be the method of unlocking the trunk," said Ria. "How much?"

"Ten galleons," said Marcus. "Any specific color?"

"White, please," said Ria as she counted ten galleons out from her money pouch and placed them onto the counter as Marcus went into the back of the store came back with two trunks. He placed the one under his left arm on the floor before placing the one under his right on the table. After counting the number of galleons, Marcus smiled.

"Well, you're good to go, miss. The trunk is yours. And as a special gift, I've charmed this trunk to be able to shrink to fit into your pocket and grow to a normal size whenever you say 'trunk, grow' or 'trunk, shrink'. I do hope you make good use of your trunk."

"I will, thank you," said Ria, bowing slightly. Then, Marcus turned to look at Harry, who stepped forwards. Marcus grabbed the trunk that was on the floor and placed it on the table.

"Now, here is something special for you, Harry. Your parents had this commissioned right before they went into hiding. I do not know who it was for, but I can tell you the security systems that were put in place in order to protect whatever is in the trunk. And while I'm talking about the inside, let me tell you about what makes this trunk so special. The trunk is made of durasteel, a rare alloy, and one that only the house of Potter possesses. I do not know how it is created. I was just given the material. Oh, and the extra durasteel that was leftover after the creation of this trunk is in the trunk. Anyways, like I was saying, this trunk is made of durasteel, which is impervious to most spells. The inside of the trunk has been magically expanded and split into sections. There are potions, clothing, books, dueling, relaxation two other unnamed sections. To put something in a section, you only have to hold the item in the trunk and say what section to put it in, and the magic will take care of the rest. Same thing for taking out an item."

"So, basically, what you are saying is that there are five sections in my trunk, and to place things in the trunk I just have to hold it near the holding area, say what section, and the trunk will take care of the rest? Plus, there are actual rooms that I can go into that are in the trunk?" asked Harry.

"That's the gist of it," replied Marcus. "Moving onto the security of the trunk. The trunk is equipped with a blood and magical aura unlocking system. To activate these systems, all I need is for you to prick your blood onto the locking system. That will not only register the blood part, but also your magical aura as magic is in your blood. After that, only you and you alone will be able to open your trunk."

"How much does this cost?"

"Well, your father already paid off the entire trunk, so I do not need any money from you. All I need to do was confirm that you are Harry Potter, which the blood prick will confirm. And like with Ms. Ria's trunk, this one can also shrink and grow, but there is a mild feather-light charm on the trunk. The durasteel is extremely heavy. It makes it weigh as much as a normal trunk." Harry nodded as he took his shrunken books out.

"Can I test it out?"

"Of course. But first, place some blood on each of the latches." Harry nodded and held out his finger and allowed the man to give him a light cut on his right hand finger before smearing blood on the latches. Harry then opened up the trunk. After choosing one of the books, Harry was about to turn to McGonagall when it expanded on his own. Smiling, Harry placed the book in the shadowed area of the trunk and made his first command.

"Place this in the book section." Then without any noise, the book disappeared from Harry's hand. "Guess it works," said Harry before doing the same action with the remaining books and then closed the trunk and murmured, "Trunk, shrink." The trunk then began shrinking until it was the size of a toy. Harry then placed it in his pockets. "Thank you, sir."

"It is not problem. Now out!" Harry and Ria bowed once before leaving the shop. As soon as they were out of the shop, Harry was once again overwhelmed by the amount of people present.

"Okay, the next thing on the list is to go get robes. However, since that will take a long time, I will go purchase your books, Harry. I will take you both to get fitted, and while you are doing that, I will pop over to the book store and buy your books."

"I can-"

"It's fine, Harry," interrupted Minerva. "It will make everything go a little bit faster." The three then headed off towards Madam Malkin's. McGonagall called over a helper and immediately she got to helping Harry get his robes.

"Hogwarts, too?" Harry turned to see a boy his age with blond, slicked back hair looking at him with his robes already fitted for him.

"Yeah," replied Harry as the helper placed a pin on one of the sleeves.

"My father is buying my books up the street while my mum is looking for wands. But I think I will drag them both to go look at racing brooms. First years aren't allowed to bring them, mind you, but I'll get my father to make an exception for me." The more he heard the boy talk, the more Harry was reminded of another person in his life: Dudley.

"Have you got your own broom?"

"No. Is that your father, over there?" asked Harry as he pointed at a man with long blonde hair and a 'mightier than thou' attitude about him.

"Ah, yes. Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts," said the boy as he left Harry. Shrugging, Harry waited for the assistant to finish the adjustments before she replicated the process on six other robes before handing Harry the other parts of his school uniform.

"That will be 10 galleons." Harry counted out the galleons and handed it to the assistant as he took out his trunk and put his new clothes into the clothing section. Afterwards he pulled his cloak back on and then put his trunk back into his pocket and walked out of the store where McGonagall was waiting with his books. After placing his books into his trunk, Harry followed Minerva and Ria down through the alley, stopping briefly at a store to buy parchment, ink, and quills.

"Professor, why don't we use pencils, pens, and regular paper?" asked Harry as they left the parchment store.

"That, Harry, is a very good question. I suppose it has to do with those inventions being from muggles."

"Is that such a bad thing?" asked Harry.

"For the purebloods, yes. Some of the purebloods, not all mind you, but some believe themselves to be superior to all muggles."

"And because of that," said Ria, realizing where the professor was going with the train of thought, "They will not use anything that comes from the muggle world."

"But would it be okay if we used pens, pencils, and regular paper?" asked Harry.

"It would be fine if you used a calligraphy pen, but you would still have to use parchment. I'm afraid if you did anything else, it would cause an uproar."

"Okay," said Harry, nodding.

"Now, the next stop is the apothecary," said Minerva as she walked into a store. "This is where you get all your potions ingredients. For you two, you will only need a basic potioneer's kit."

"Ah…Minerva, taking the new students to get their supplies?" came a sneering voice to McGonagall's left. Minerva and her two students turned to see a man with greasy looking hair and black robes.

"Yes. Harry, Ria, this will your be potions professor at Hogwarts, Professor Severus Snape."

"Hello sir," said Harry, bowing his head. "My name is Harry Potter, nice to meet you."

"Potter?"

"And my name is Ria Kachmer, sir. Also nice to meet you."

"Hmmm…I sincerely hope that you two join Slytherin house this year. You are by far more respectful than most of the blubbering idiots that I have to deal with during the school year," said Snape as he looked down at the two. "And Potter, you have your mother's eyes. Good day." With that, Snape walked out of the apothecary, his cloak billowing behind him.

"Is he always that nice?" asked Ria, turning to look at the professor.

"No. He is not. He has the reputation of being the worst teacher to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts. But he has taken a liking to you two, so maybe that will change. Anyways, we have to get your supplies and then head over to get your wands." After purchasing the potioneer's kit, the three left the store and headed over to the next destination: Ollivander's.

The three entered the shop, and saw that no one was at the table. Minerva stood in the front, smiling as she knew the old wand maker's habit. There were shelves upon shelves filled with boxes containing wands. There were no empty spots on the shelves.

"Hello?" asked Harry as he wandered around the foyer. Then, out of the blue, a ladder came sliding down one of the shelves with a man standing on it, as he smiled down at Harry.

"I wondered when I would see you, Mr. Potter. And hello to you, Ms. Kachmer, Little Minerva."

"Don't call me that," said Minerva, frowning at the name.

"Whatever you say Little Minerva. I remember each and every wand that I've sold. For example, Minerva over there had a Fir and Dragon Heartstring wand, about nine and half inches. Extremely stiff, just like her. Harry's parents on the other hand had a different type of wand. Your mother had a 10 and a quarter inch wand, swish, made of willow, very good for charms," said Ollivander as he looked through the shelves for a box. "Your father, on the other hand had a mahogany wand, pliable, eleven inches. Very good for transfiguration. But of course, it is the wand that chooses the wizard."

"What does that mean?"

"A wand will not work well for you unless it accepts you as its master. Wandlore is very complicated, tricky, and shrouded in mysteries. Now, we'll begin with Ms. Kachmer. As I recall, both your parents took extremely long, Mr. Potter. I don't want to delay Ms. Kachmer that long. Now first, Ms. Kachmer give this a wave," said Ollivander as he took a wand out of the box and handed it to Ria. "Pine and phoenix feather, 10 ¾ inches, surprisingly swishy." Ria took the wand and gave it wave, and was surprised when she lit the floor on fire.

"Sorry!" cried Ria as Ollivander put out the fire with his own wand.

"Nope, definitely not," said Ollivander as he went back into the shelves as Ria placed the wand on the table. "12 inch oak with a dragon heartstring, very temperamental." Ria picked it up and gave it a wave, which made some glass shatter.

"Sorry," said Ria again.

"Not a problem. Hmm, I know," said Ollivander as he dashed to the back and grabbed another box. "Yew, dragon heartstring, 7 ½ inches, swishy." But before Ria could give it a swish, it was taken from her. "No, that's not it." Ollivander dashed back into the store and grabbed a wand before giving it to Ria. "Holly, Phoenix feather, 11 inches long, nice and supple." As soon as Ria grabbed it, a light engulfed Ria, and a warm feeling ran up her up her arm, making her sigh in content. "Curious."

"What's curious?" asked Ria.

"I know ever wand I've ever sold. And the phoenix, whose feather resides in your wand gave one other feather. It's curious that you would get that wand when its brother gave Mr. Potter his scar. Now, Mr. Potter, let's get you started. First, 12 inches, mahogany with a unicorn's tail." Harry took the wand given to him and gave a little wave. Instantly, the glass to the shop shattered. "Nope! Definitely not," muttered Ollivander, taking the wand from Harry while at the same time repairing the broken glass. Ollivander disappeared back into the shelves and grabbed several wands.

"Er…do you really think it'll take that many tries?" asked Harry when he saw the number of wands Ollivander had grabbed.

"Oh, I think it'll take a lot more than these, Mr. Potter. Now, first we have cherry with a dragon heartsring. Surprisingly springy." Harry hadn't even given the wand a wave before Ollivander snatched it out of his hand. "Nope. Try this one. Willow with a phoenix feather, 13 inches. Very stiff." Harry was given a chance to wave this one, but it only resulted in Ollivander's desk being split in two. All the other wands suffered similar fates: boxed wands being thrown out of the shelves, Ria getting doused with water, a lightning bolt striking the floor.

"I…don't think any of these working."

"Hmm…yes. Well, since those didn't work, let try some unconventional wands." Ollivander went to the very back and grabbed five boxes. "First, Elm infused with birch, a dragon heartstring dipped in basilisk venom." Harry felt a tingling feeling as he waved the wand, but he still made boxes of wands fly out of the shelves.

"Er…it did it again…"

"Don't worry about. Right. Not the wand for you. Let's try the next one. Elder wood infused with the bark of the Jomon Sugi with a phoenix feather wrapped around a unicorn's hair." Harry took the wand and gave it a wave and was pleased to see that instead of destroying something, he only made the chair slam up into the ceiling. "Close, but not yet there," murmured Ollivander. "Hold it, I know what wand to give you." Ollivander ran into the back and came back with another wand. "This was made by my great-great-great-grandfather during the early days of Hogwarts. It is Jomon Sugi infused with pieces of the gingko tree from Japan. The core is the feather from the Vermillion Bird wrapped in the fur of the White Tiger. 11 inches. Very temperamental, good for dueling and any spells that are linked to the elements." Harry took the wand and immediately he felt a warmth flow through his arm. Harry gave a wave and a tiger of ice formed out of the wand, and bowed before Harry before breaking into pieces.

"Wow," said Harry.

"Wow indeed," said Ollivander. "I do believe that wand is the one for you. Be good to that wand, Mr. Potter. It is perhaps the most unique wand in my store. That will be fifteen galleons for you, Mr. Potter and seven galleons for you, Ms. Kachmer." Both students nodded and paid the specified amount. "Oh, and because you gave me the chance to see one of my ancestor's wands choose you, I will be giving you two wand holsters. It's not every day that I get to see that." The two students thanked the man profusely before leaving the shop.

"Now that the wands are done, the only thing left is to get a pet, if you wish," said Minerva.

"What kind of pets?" asked Harry.

"Owls, Cats, there all kinds of pets, but most get owls for their use in delivering mail," replied Minerva. Harry and Ria were instantly taken by the suggestion and took off into the Eeylops Owl Emporium. As Harry looked around, there were two pets that caught his eye: a young raven with green eyes and a small black snake with blue eyes.

"_Stuupid Humannss. Coming to loook at us in ooour cages."_ Harry looked around as he tried to discern who had said that.

"Who's there?" asked Harry looked around.

"_Huuumans can't hear uuuusss!_" Harry looked down at the black snake in the cage in confusion.

"It can't be you who is talking, can it?"

"_A huuuman understands me?_"

"I guess so?"

"_Taaake me with youuu! And I guesss this crazy bird who is with me._" Harry looked over to the raven in the cage next to the snake who just cocked its head at Harry.

"For sure. You two will be my first friends!" Harry looked around, making sure no one had heard his conversation with the snake, cause that just looks like you are crazy. Harry then went to find the store keeper.

"Excuse me sir, but I would like to purchase black snake and raven," said Harry as he walked over to the cash register. The man looked down at Harry for a second before replying.

"You sure you want them, lad? That snake is a corn snake. We only kept her around cause there might be a trace amount of magic within her. As for the raven, she doesn't listen to anyone. Are you sure?"

"Uh-huh."

"Alright then," said the man as he walked around the table and grabbed the cage with the snake and the raven. "Do you want the basic care of, food and treats for both the raven and the snake as well?"

"Please."

"Right," said the man as he reached under the table and grabbed the necessary supplies before putting them into a bag. "That'll be 20 galleons." Harry took out the necessary coins and paid the man before taking the cage and the bag and walked over to where Minerva was standing. While he waited for Ria, Harry resized his trunk to its proper size.

"Don't worry little buddies," said Harry as he opened the trunk to the relaxation section. "There is more than enough space in this section for you to have some freedom. I'll come in and get you when I get to a private area." Harry placed the cages in the section and opened them, allowing his new friends some freedom while they were in the magically expanded trunk. Harry then closed the trunk and resized so it fit back into his pocket.

Not long after, Ria was also there.

"Okay, you three, let's head back to the Leaky Cauldron." The three walked back, weaving through the crowds of people walking in the alley before arriving back at the bar. "Ria, go look outside to see if your parents are waiting. If they are, please bring them in. If you're not back within ten minutes, I will come look for you myself"

"Okay," replied Ria as she opened the door to the Leaky Cauldron and stepped outside to look for her parents.

**A/N: Welp, hope this chapter goes better than the last one. As always, please read and review. I love hearing all your feedback.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey all! Here's the latest installment of Hogwarts' Guardian. Hope you all enjoy. And thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. They really help keep me writing.**

**Chapter 3**

"So where will I be staying?" asked Harry. "Will I have to return back to the Dursleys?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I will not have a student be mistreated at their home. You may not be a student yet, but no one should go through that. If Ria's parents can't take you in, I will take you to Hogwarts, where you will stay until the ride to Hogwarts. That is something that no fist year will miss, at least not on my watch."

"Professor, I brought my father in," said Ria as she sat down. Harry looked up at the man. Harry could tell that he was much different from his uncle. While his uncle was big, but fat, this man was big but muscled. Where his uncle had fat, this man had muscle. And then there was that intimidating gaze the man had.

"Hello, Mr. Kachmer, how do you do?"

"I am doing fine, Professor. Is there something wrong? Do you need something from us?"

"Yes, but whether you choose to do what I am proposing is completely up to you. But first," said McGonagall as she pointed towards Harry, "Let me introduce one of Ria's soon to be classmate, Harry Potter. Now, what I am about to propose to you is something that involves Harry. For the past eleven years, Harry has been living at his aunt and uncle's house. However, he has not been happy there. He has been treated similar to slave or a servant in his own home. But I do not want Harry to have to continue to go through that before the school year starts. Will you be able to take him in for the summer?"

"I'm sorry, but even if I could make that decision, which I can't, we are not going to be here until about August 29th. We are going to visit Ria's cousins in Germany. I truly do wish I could help with Mr. Potter's situation, but this summer it would just be impossible. But, I will say this. If next summer, Mr. Potter needs a place to stay over the summer and you haven't come up with anything, he is welcome at our house."

"But sir, that would rude of me. I couldn't possible just come over just because I'm being treated badly at my house. Besides, what if I don't get along with your daughter? It would not do for the both of us," spoke Harry.

"Well then," said Mr. Kachmer as he winked down at Harry, "You best get along with her, for all our sakes." Harry looked down and nodded. "Now, I do believe I should be going. Good day to you, Professor, Harry."

"Good bye, Mr. Kachmer," said Harry.

"Good day, Mr. Kachmer," replied Minerva. As the father and daughter left, Harry turned to look at the professor.

"So, am I staying at Hogwarts?" asked Harry.

"Yes. Though, I will warn you that you will not be the only student there. There are a few students still at Hogwarts. The students who are still at Hogwarts right now are those students who are studying under a specific teacher so that they will be prepared for whatever job they are going into. There are a few who are studying under me to prepare themselves for obtaining a transfiguration mastery. Of course, your father was one such student."

"Did you know them? My parents, that is."

"Harry, I taught your father throughout his entire stay during Hogwarts. I was his head of house, and the person who assigned him the most detentions. It was also me who persuaded him to go for a transfiguration mastery. The things that your father could do with transfiguration were marvelous. He came up with theories that boggled everyone's mind."

"And my mother?"

"Your mother was talented in a different area. She was a master potioneer and a master in charm-work. You will meet her charms teacher while you are at Hogwarts. Her potions teacher, however, has gone off the map and no longer teaches at Hogwarts. But your mother, she had a truly gifted mind. Both your parents were the type that comes only once every few generations. And I am sure that you will be the same. Now hold onto my hand." Harry grabbed onto McGonagall's outstretched hand and suddenly they were no longer in the leaky cauldron, but now in a field. Harry looked up and saw a gigantic castle.

"Is that-"

"Yes, Harry. Welcome to Hogwarts."

Once the pair had made it inside the castle, Harry and McGonagall were greeted by two of the students.

"Professor."

"Mr. Weasley, Ms. Tonks. What can I do for you?"

"Uh…well, I were wondering if I could bring my youngest brother, the one that will be attending Hogwarts next year. See, I won't be able to spend any time with them during the summer or during the year as I will be headed to Romania to work on the Dragon Reserve, so I thought if I could bring them here, we would actually get to spend some time together."

"And why not ask Professor Dumbledore about this?" asked McGonagall as Harry stared at the two students in front of him.

"He said that we should ask you so that I don't get in trouble…and so that he doesn't surprise you when they appear. Also it was mentioned that since I am studying under you, professor, that I should ask you for permission."

"Hmm," murmured McGonagall, pursing her lips. "I will allow him to come, but not only will you be responsible for him, you will also be given responsibility of young Mr. Potter for the summer." Harry stepped forwards from behind McGonagall.

"Of course. I'll apparate home and grab my sibling. Where will he be staying?"

"Hmm…put him with Harry in the Gryffindor rooms. The password should be Draco Dormiens. I'll leave Harry in there. But you will also be responsible for taking them back to King's Cross station so that they can ride on Hogwarts Express."

"Yes, professor!"

"Run along then. Come on Harry, I will show you to where you will be staying." Harry ran to catch up to McGonagall as she briskly walked past her students as she led her young charge to the Gryffindor dormitories. "Harry, this is the fat lady, the portrait that you will let you in if you say the password. Also note that in the magical world, all our portraits are alive and not still as they are in the muggle world."

"Yes, professor."

"Good. Now speak the password."

"Draco Dormiens!"

"You may enter," said the fat lady as the portrait swung open, revealing the room behind. Harry stepped forwards as if in a daze. It had only been a day since he learned about magic, and it's abilities were amazing. Hiding a room behind a talking portrait? So cool!

"Your room will be the first room on the right hand staircase," said McGonagall from behind Harry. "I suggest you only unpack a week's worth of clothes and just leave them in the basket that is provided. Hogwarts will take care of your laundry. This way you won't have so much to repack at the end of summer before you go to King's Cross to take the train here. It is something that every first year must experience. Now, breakfast will be served in the great hall from 7-10, lunch will be served from 11-2, and dinner will be served from 5-8. You will be allowed to practice magic in the castle, however, I urge you to do so with caution and if you do practice magic, do it in a classroom. And, as I mentioned before, there will be two incoming first years joining you here. Be nice. I will see you at dinnertime."

"Thank you, professor!" said Harry as he bowed deeply. McGonagall nodded her acknowledgment before leaving to go up the stairs to find a room and unpack. Harry opened his trunk and switched it to relaxation and climbed in.

The inside of his trunk looked like an incredibly luxurious room. The walls were made of polished wood with a few pictures of who Harry assumed to be his parents and their close friends. In the middle of the room were a few couches and table in front of a magically- lit fireplace. On the side of the room was a bathroom and on the other side was a bed and a desk. Standing on the desk was the raven while the snake was curled up on the bed. Harry ambled over to the bed and stared down at the snake.

"What is your name?"

"_I dooon't have one. I was born with noooo mother. As the one who took me from captivity, please name me. Who am I?_"

"You are Hedwig, after Saint Hedwig, patron saint of Orphans," said Harry smiling. "For if I am an orphan, then my companion and friend will be named after my patron saint."

"_I approve._"

"And the raven? Does he have a name? He is a he, right?"

"_Yes," _laughed Hedwig, "_He is a he. And he has no name either. Both of us were born into captivity. They decided not to give us names so that we would listen to whatever name our new owner would give us._"

"How old are you two?"

"_We are both a year old. What is his name to be?_" Harry looked over at the raven walked towards him. Harry gently pet the raven on his head, eliciting a few caws of happiness.

"He will be named Muninn after one of Odin's companion ravens." Harry held out his arm to Muninn, who jumped off the desk, flapped his wings rapidly before landing on Harry's outstretched arm. Harry held out his hand for Hedwig, who slithered up Harry's arm and wrapped herself around Harry's shoulder with her head peeking out from the collar of Harry's shirt. "You comfortable in there?" asked Harry as he shivered, getting used to feeling Hedwig rubbing against his skin.

"_Yesss. This spot suits me just fine._"

"Okay," replied Harry as he went over to the ladder and climbed out of the trunk with his two pets. Once he was out of the trunk, Harry switched the compartment to books and grabbed one of his new school books: Defense Against the Dark Arts Year 1. He walked down the stairs with his two pets and settled into a couch to read the textbook.

As Harry read the first chapter, there were many terms that he did not recognize, so he took out a piece of parchment and started scribbling down the terms that he did not understand along with their definitions. By the time he had finished reading through the first chapter of the book, there was about a foot worth of parchment filled with notes on the chapter. Harry was so engrossed with his reading and writing down notes that he didn't even notice when two young girls walked right past him and up into the femal dorms.

"_Harry!_"

"What Hedwig?" asked Harry as he scribbled something with his quill.

"_You didn't notice the other human walk upstairs…_"

"So? If I'm meant to become friends with them, I will in time. Let me envelop myself in the world of magic." Hedwig remained silent while Muninn flapped around the room.

"Hello?" Harry looked up to see a boy with bright orange hair, similar to the older boy he had seen earlier.

"Hello, who are you?"

"My name is Ron. Ron Weasley. I think you saw my older brother Charlie earlier. He looks like me but his hair is much shaggier."

"Oh! I remember. My name is Harry."

"Nice to meetcha. What you reading there?"

"Our textbook for first year. I've been raised my muggles my whole life, so I'm kind of fascinated by everything regarding magic."

"Hmm…well I've grown up around magic my entire life, so I could probably answer any questions you probably have. Only things I wouldn't know are more obscure laws about ancient families."

"What do you mean by ancient families?"

"Ah, those are the nine families that came together to help found magical Britain under the guidance of Merlin and the four founders of Hogwarts. Let me introduce myself. My name is Ronald Billius Weasley, scion of the Ancient and Noble House of Weasley. Most Ancient means that we were here from the beginning where as ancient just means that we have supported magical Britain for at least 300 years. Noble means that we have aided Britain during times of strife. The only families to have the title Most Noble are Houses Potter, Longbottom, and Gryffindor. Grffindor is long dead, Longbottom's heir is attending this year, and you are the last of your family, aren't you Harry?" asked Ron as he wrote all the information down on a piece of parchment for Harry after taking the quill from Harry.

"You knew."

"I'm not an idiot. Anyone who sees your scar could tell," said Ron as he finished writing. "But no one who gets famous off their parents' deaths wants to be reminded of it. I was trying to be respectful of the fact that you didn't want it widely known."

"Thank you."

"Not a problem. So like I was saying, I don't know some of the obscure laws regarding the ancient families. As the youngest son of the House of Weasley, I was never required to learn all the ancient laws. That was mostly Bill, Charlie, and my other brother, Percy."

"Weren't you coming to spend time with Charlie?"

"Yeah. He's the only brother I really get along with. Bill is too distant and cares more about my younger sister. Percy is stuck up. And the twins, Fred and George prank me into oblivion."

"What about your sister? Don't you get along with her?" asked Harry, cocking his head in confusion. In Harry's mind, anyone to share time with is great.

"I mean, yeah. I guess," said Ron, but didn't elaborate any further. Harry sensing that he didn't want to talk about decided to change subjects.

"Hey, did you get any pets?"

"Nah. My family doesn't really have money to get pets or anything new for that matter." Harry smiled.

"Well, then I have a proposal for you. You help me learn wizarding customs and reviewing the first year textbooks and I'll get you a pet of your choice from Diagon Alley before the school year." Ron looked at Harry in disbelief.

"You don't have to do that for me."

"I'm not doing anything for you. You're going to help me learn so I don't look like an idiot when school starts and I'm going to buy you a pet in exchange." Ron looked at Harry and then at Minunn who was flapping around the room.

"You got yourself a deal." Harry grinned as he began peppering Ron with questions, who's eyes widened as he realized how much work he was going to have to do to earn his new pet.

|1 day until Hogwarts starts|

Both Harry and Ron sat in the Gryffindor common room cross legged with their eyes closed. Both of them had a single quill in front of them. Harry reached down within himself as he tried to find his magic. He remembered how it felt when he used magic with his wand and attempted to replicate that feeling without the wand.

Slowly, Harry felt himself being drawn into the innermost part of his mind and began to lose himself as he attempted to find his magic.

Within his mind, Harry was able to see his magic, was able to envelope his entire being with the feeling that he had when he was using his wand. Slowly, Harry opened his eyes as he pointed his hand at the feather. Slowly, the feather began to lift up in the air.

Unlike how the feather rose at a calm and steady rate when done with a wand, this time the feather rose up erratically. The feather would jump a few centimeters, then stop. This process would repeat itself until the feather was about eye level. Harry panted as he faised his hands to direct the feather to float over to where Ron was sitting.

Around the same time, Ron also opened his eyes and reached out with his latent magic to push the feather up into the air. However, unlike Harry who as able to make it lift off the table to eye level, Ron was only able to get it to five centimeters off the table before the feather fell back down to the table.

"I have a lot of practice to do if I want to get up to your level, huh?" asked Ron as he leaned on his legs, panting like a dog and sweat glistening on his forehead.

"I do too. This was the easiest spell, and yet we both had issues just trying to lift the feather. Want to get back to working on magic with our wands?"

"Definitely. Transfiguration or charms?"

"Transfiguration." They both took out a box of matches that they had procured from Ron's older brother and placed them on the table.

"Are we going to attempt transforming the box around the matches, and only the matches?"

"Obviously," snorted Harry as he focused on the matchbox. In his mind, he pictured the box taking on a metallic feel with a raven and a snake engraved on the top. Harry tapped the box, not even saying a spell as he let his intent flow from his wand and into the box. The box transformed into a metal box with a latch stylized with a raven flapping its wings and snake curled around its neck.

Harry reached for the latch, and unhooked the top to reveal plenty of matches inside. Harry smiled and looked over to where Ron was concentrating. Ron tapped the matchbook and the same thing happened for him except his box was gold and emblazoned with a proud lion ready to stalk his prey.

"Nice job Ron!" Harry's voice startled Ron out of his concentration. "Now let's see how fast we can do it and how many times we can do it in the next hour. If I remember correctly, Charlie is going to take us to Diagon Alley and I still owe you a pet…"

"You're on!' The two boys went back to transforming the boxes with matches inside of them from metallic to normal match boxes and back for the next half hour until Charlie entered the common room.

"Hey you two. Busy learning?" Ron turned his head to see his older brother standing in the portrait hole.

"Charlie!" yelled Ron as he ran from where he was sitting to his elder brother. "Can we go to Diagon Alley now?"

"Sure. Why don't you boys go clean up, grab your money pouches, and I'll meet you down at the entrance to the great hall in 15 minutes?" The two boys nodded as they started clearing off the desk and taking their textbooks upstairs to the first-year rooms. Harry placed his books in his trunk as Minunn flapped over to his shoulder and nipped Harry's ear.

"No, I can't take you with me this time. I'm going shopping. But if you want, I can let you go flying." Minunn cocked his head and nodded. Harry walked over to the window and opened it up. Minunn leaped off Harry's should out into the sky.

"_Aaand what about me?_" Harry glanced down at his neck where Hedwig's head could be seen poking out from under his shirt.

"You stay where you are, Hedwig. Unless you want to go out and do some hunting of your own?"

"_I'm quite fine, thank you very much._" Harry chuckled as he finished putting his books in his trunk. Harry grabbed his money pouch before walking down the stairs to the common room to see Ron waiting for him.

"You ready to get your pet?"

"Yep. Are you ready to get hounded by the public?"

"Nope," said Harry as he pulled his cloak over his shoulders. "That's why I have this. To obscure my identity."

"Whatever suits you. Let's get going." The two boys walked out of the common room and down to the great hall entrance where Charlie was waiting for them.

"Took you two long enough. What were you doing, each other's make-up?"

"Shut up Charlie," growled Ron. "That's nothing compared to how long it takes you and Nymphadora to come down when she stays over during the summer." Charlie looked panic and put his hand around Ron's mouth.

"Are you crazy? What if Tonks was nearby and heard you," whispered Charlie. "We'd both be dead!" Ron's eyes widened in fear.

"Oh crap."

"Exactly. Now let's get out of here and forget this even happened." The three males walked out of Hogwarts and down towards the gates. As soon as they passed the gates, Charlie put a hand on Ron and Harry's shoulder. "Alright boys, don't throw up."

"Wha-" Harry didn't even have time to ask what was happening before all three of them disappeared with a "pop".

|Diagon Alley|

Charlie, Ron, and Harry appeared in back alleyway. As soon as their feet touched the ground, Harry and Ron separated from Charlie and began patting themselves down to make sure that they had all their body parts.

"What the hell was that?" yelled Ron. "You don't just say 'don't throw up' and then apparate without telling us. Are you trying to be Fred or George?"

"Well, when you put it like that, it doesn't sound so great. But come on, it meant that you didn't have to work up the courage to side-apparate with me. You just did it!" Ron continued to glare at his older brother. "Here, since I scared the living hell out of you, I'll buy you both one book on advanced offensive magic from the bookstore. Now go get your pet and meet me at the bookstore in 15."

Both Harry and Ron both perked up at that and grinned at each other. The two nodded before running out of the alleyway down towards the pet store. When they entered, they could hear birds cawing in their cages, cats mewing, and snakes hissing. Ron and Harry wandered through the pet store looking at all the different animals until Ron caught his eye on a particular owl: a snowy spotted owl.

"Is that who you want?" asked Harry as he picked up some food for Minunn and Hedwig. "She looks nice."

"Hmm…I like her, but are you sure? She's 18 galleons. That's not cheap!"

"It's fine. I told you any pet, remember? Go grab some food an any other accessories that you want to get for her. I'll take her up to the front." Harry picked up the owl's cage and brought her to the cashier at the front of the store.

"Hello, will this be all?" asked the cashier as he tapped his wand on the cage, making it glow green.

"No, can I get a monthly auto-fulfilling food order for an owl, a snake and a raven under the name of Harry Potter?" As he was talking with the cashier, Ron came to the front with a guide on how to care for owls and owl treats.

"Of course."

"Harry!" Harry turned to look at Ron. "Why are you asking for an auto-fulfilling order for an owl? I can't afford to pay you for that!"

"Which is why you'll pay me back in the form helping me learning magic. You will help me learn magic that is beyond what they are teaching in the school curriculum. That is how you'll pay me back."

"But…ah man, I was looking forward to being lazy again."

"Sorry Ron, but you're going to have to keep up with e if you want all the food for free."

"You know what, fine. I'll do it."

"Great. Now that is all," said Harry turning back to the cashier who finished tapping the owl guide and a contract for the auto-fulfilling food order.

"Okay, that'll be about 100 galleons. Please sign here with a blood quill," asked the cashier, presenting the contract to Harry.

"Why a blood quill?" asked Harry.

"It is so the goblins can verify that you agreed to having money taken out of your vault every month." Harry nodded in understanding and took the quill to sign his name. Rob grabbed the cage with the owl and his guide to caring for owls.

After leaving the pet store, the two boys made their way to Flourish and Blotts, where Charlie was waiting for them.

"I see you got your owl Ron. What's his name going to be?"

"It's a her and her name is going to be Pellimore."

"I see. Well, I picked out two copies of three books: one book on martial arts magic, one book on battle magic, and one on runic magic. The runic magic will be too hard for you two right now as you have yet to learn anything about runes. But if you can learn it, you two will have a unique skillset that many wizards never learn. Plus, if you have any questions about runes, you can always ask Bill." Charlie handed one bag to both Ron and Harry, containing the three books.

"Eh…but I like you better Charlie. Can't I ask you instead?" complained Ron.

"You could, but I'm not nearly as good at Runes as Bill is. Anyways, let's get you back to Hogwarts. I'll have you two at the train station tomorrow at 10 AM. Make sure everything is packed."

"Yes Charlie," replied Harry and Ron. Charlie placed his hands on Ron and Harry's shoulders before apparating back to the gate of Hogwarts. The three males walked back to the Gryffindor common room together before they went their separate ways. Charlie went to the 7th year rooms to start packing while Ron and Harry went to the 1st year rooms.

"So," asked Ron as he packed up his belongings, "What house do you think you'll be in?"

"Hm…either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Thought with my thirst for knowledge I might also get sorted into Ravenclaw or Slytherin. You?"

"Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Though, I'm leaning towards Hufflepuff. Then I won't have to have any fear about Fred and George pranking me during the night."

"That is a reasonable fear," responded Harry with a shudder. Ron had told him about all the pranks that the twins have done over the years. Those two had scary minds and sick sense of humor.

"Well, whatever house we are sorted into, we're still studying together, right? Studying with you is probably the only way I'll stay focused."

"For sure," replied Harry, bumping fists with Ron. Neither boy noticed, but a spark of lightning appeared on Harry's fist for millisecond before disappearing.

|Next Day: King's Cross station|

"Well," said Charlie as he looked at the two boys before him. "This will be the last time I see both of you for quite a while. I'm headed off to Romania to work on a Dragon reserve. If either of you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. And Ron? If you don't get sorted into Gryffindor, it's not the end of world. You'll do well wherever you get sorted."

"Thanks Charlie," whispered Ron as he hugged his big brother.

"Yes, thank you Charlie," said Harry as he bowed to the older man. "Thank you for the past month."

"It's been no trouble at all. Now, run through that pillar," said Charlie, pointing to the pillar between the pillars for platform 9 and 10. "That'll take you to Platform 9 ¾. Good luck." Harry and Ron looked at each and nodded. Both charged at the pillar and phased through. They looked behind them to see Charlie come in right after.

"Alright, let's get you boys a compartment." Charlie as he helped Ron and Harry take their stuff from their carts and take them into a train. After finding a compartment, he helped place their trunks on the racks above. "Guess this is it. See ya Ron!"

"Bye Charlie!" Ron waved as his elder brother stepped out of the train and into the sea of people. Harry and Ron collapsed into their seats and sighed.

"Want to play a game?"

"Chess?"

"Why? Do you like torturing me?"

"Well, it's one of the few things that I am 100% sure I can beat you in. Besides, don't you want to get better at it?"

"Yeah, but not when I'm getting thrashed so thoroughly I'm not even sure what I am doing wrong."

"Fine, I won't try as hard. I'll only use about 40% of my current skill." Harry groaned as Ron took out his portable chessboard and put it on the table between the two of them. And so began Harry's torture as even with Ron playing with less than half of his real skill, he was still dominating the game.

"Harry?" Harry looked over to see Ria dragging her trunk and carrying her owl cage.

"Hey Ria. Want to sit in the compartment with us?"

"Yes please. Could you help me with my trunk."

"Of course I can. Ron, can you help us well?" Harry stepped out of the compartment and together with Ron helped her put the trunk on the rack above along with placing her owl cage next Pellimore's cage. Minunn was currently sleeping in Harry's trunk in the library room while Hedwig was wrapped around Harry's shoulder.

"So Ria, how was Germany, was it?"

"It was great. Are you guys playing chess?" asked Ria, motioning to the chessboard.

"Yeah. Ron's kicking my ass." As they continued to talk a blonde girl knocked on the compartment.

"Hello, all the other compartments are filled or don't want to let me sit with them. Could I possibly sit here with you guys? I won't bother you."

"Of course!" said Ria before Ron or Harry could respond. Ria went and helped the girl place her trunk and owl cage on the racks above before sitting down next to Ron while the blonde haired girl sat next to Harry. "Oh, my name is Ria Kachmer. What is yours?"

"Daphne. Daphne Greegrass." From her side, Harry looked closely at her face. Daphne had very cold grey eyes, almost the color of a light fog.

"Greengrass," muttered Ron before his eyes widened in realization. "You mean, you're the heiress to the Greengrass family, and one of the sacred 28?"

"It seems the Weasley family isn't as incompetent as I was led to believe," replied Daphne with a smirk. "It is a pleasure to meet you Scion Ronald Weasley."

"And you as well, Heiress Greengrass, but please call me Ron. Like you said, I'm a Weasley and we Weasleys don't care for that formal stuff unless we are called to Wizengamot. And while we are on the subject, allow me to introduce Heir Potter." Daphne turned to look at Harry and saw the lightning bolt on his forehead.

"Hello Heir Potter. I assume Ron here has been teaching you our traditions." Harry eyes Daphne and nodded with a small smile.

"Yes, Heiress Greengrass. Though I must insist you call me Harry. I am just re-entering the wizarding world. I come from a humble background. I was not raised as the Heir to the Potter family. I was raised as a muggle." Daphne's eyes widened.

"You mean to tell me," growled Daphne, "That you did not know about the wizarding world until you received your Hogwarts' letter? The heir to one of the three ancient families didn't know he was a wizard until you were eleven?"

"Yes," replied Harry, "but please calm down. Ron has been gracious enough to help me learn. Though since you are an heiress there are things you know that Ron wouldn't."

"Yes. It would be my pleasure to help you acclimate to the wizarding world along with Ron. And please, call me Daphne." As the three had been talking Ria's eyes had been bouncing between all three of them before she finally exploded.

"HEY! What is going on here?" Harry, Ron, and Daphne looked over at Ria and smiled ruefully.

"Sorry about that Ria," said Harry. "We got so caught up in discussing our families that we forgot to include you. As you know, my name is Harry Potter and I grew up with my aunt and uncle who do not possess magic. What you don't know is that my father, James Potter was the head of a prominent magic family that can be traced back to the time of Merlin."

"And how did you not know this beforehand?" asked Ria as she stared at Harry in shock. She had thought he was just a normal first-year just like her. To hear that he was the heir to such a historic wizarding family unnerved her.

"Ron, who is a member of another historic wizarding family helped me find a book of historic family lines and I was able to find my family in it. Plus, he also started teaching me some of the wizarding customs expected of an heir. Though I expect Daphne can do a much more thorough job since she is an actual heiress."

"That would correct, Potter," replied Daphne. "Now enough about our families or we'll be here all day. Have you decided on a favorite quidditch team yet?" Harry noticed the sharp gleam in her eyes and shuddered in fear before shaking his head.

"Good. You're now a fan of the Tushtill Tornados."

"Like hell he is!" yelled Ron. "If you're going to force him to be a fan of a team, it should be the Chudley Cannons!"

"That pathetic excuse for a team? I think not." Daphne and Ron glared at each other before turning to look at Harry. "Who do you want to support more?" asked Ron and Daphne.

"Err…let me watch one game from both and then I'll decided." Both Ron and Daphne contemplated this and nodded.

"Deal!" Daphne and Ron shook hands before setting back in their seat. Ria and Harry looked terrified.

"Want to finish our chess game?" asked Harry.

"Nah, I was going to checkmate you in three moves."

"What? No way!"

"He's right, Potter," said Daphne as she grabbed a book from her trunk. "You will lose that chess match."

"Fine. I'm still better than you at magic though, Ron."

"Okay, whatever." The four in the compartment settled in to reading a book. Harry grabbed his matchbook from his trunk and while he read about charms, absentmindedly practiced turning the matches into muggle pencils.

*knock* All four first-years were startled when they heard a knock on the door. Opening the compartment door, they saw a bushy haired girl and slightly pudgy boy.

"Hello, my friend here lost his toad, Trevor. We were wondering if you had seen it." All four of them shook their heads. The girl's eyes wandered over to Harry's matches, one of which had only been half-transformed into a pencil. "Have you been practicing magic?"

"Hmm? Yeah. I'm trying to determine how complex of a pencil I can create."

"How have you already practiced magic? Don't they track that during the summer?"

"I was in a place where magic was permitted over the summer. And as for the toad, ask one of the older students if they can use a summoning charm on Trevor."

"Thanks. My name is Hermione Grange and this is Neville Longbottom, by the way."

"Pleasure," responded Daphne. "Now if you would excuse me, I have to use the loo." Daphne slid past Hermione and Neville. Hermione eyed the blonde-haired girl's back before turning back to Harry.

"Thank you for the suggestion…uh, sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Harry. This is Ron and Ria," said Harry, pointing to his compartment buddies.

"Well thank you. I'll see you later." Ria closed the door and went back to reading her book while Ron and Harry practiced their transfiguration. Soon enough the door opened again, but instead of Daphne returning from the loo, it was a blonde-haired boy, though his hair was much closer to silver and behind stood two muscular boys.

"Hello? Can we help you?" asked Ron.

"Yes, we heard that Harry Potter was sitting here and wanted to say hello."

"Well you did that," responded Harry, not even looking in the boy's direction. "You can move along."

"Wait, my name is Draco Malfoy. I heard that you weren't acclimated to the wizarding world yet. There are some…families that are better left in the dirt. I can help guide you on what families those are."

"Hmm, like the Malfoys? Are you saying you know better than anyone else?"

"Yes."

"Even better than say, Greengrass?" asked Harry as he continued to read.

"Of course. They're nothing compared to the Malfoy family."

"You want to say that again, Malfoy?" Draco turned to see with her arms crossed glaring at him.

"Oh hi, Daphne. What a pleasure to see you!"

"I highly doubt that. Take Crabbe and Goyle with you and get. Leave us alone and I'll forget that you insulted the house of Greengrass. You know what would happen if word of this got out, don't you?" Draco gnashed his teeth and turned on his heel and walked away with Crabbe and Goyle following in his wake.

"What was that about?" asked Ria, looking up from her book.

"Malfoy being an arrogant prat. Harry, Ron, can you two step outside. The train is almost to Hogwarts and we should probably change into our robes." Ron and Harry nodded and stepped outside without complaint. They waited until Daphne opened the door and the girls did the same.

|Hogwarts|

Harry, Ron, Daphne, and Ria exited the train and looked at the magic castle that stood before them. Daphne and Ria looked in awe whereas Ron and Harry just grinned at the familiar sight.

"First-years, this way!" Harry saw Hagrid herding the first years and smiled. The four children followed the crowd to where Hagrid was standing. "Three to a boat. Come on!"

"I guess I'll see you guys at the end of the ride," said Daphne as she joined another boat with two other girls.

"Yep," replied Harry as he joined Ron and Ria on a boat. "See you at the castle." After Harry sat down, the boat started to propel itself forwards.

**A/N: Special thanks to my dear friend Cyberhank (he doesn't have a fanfiction account) for helping me with this chapter. I'll have the next chapter up next Saturday. I'm also going to start posting this story on AO3 as well starting next week. Also, this chapter was exceedingly long. Not sure if I'll be able to write chapters this long every week, but we'll see. Until next week!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

|Hogwarts|

Hagrid opened the doors to Hogwarts and led the group of children indoors. Harry and Ron walked in, side by side, basking in the familiar site. They had, after all, spent a month in the summer wandering these halls. Around them, the other 11-year old children clamored with excitement, especially those who had been raised by muggles. Ghosts floated by, saying hello and wishing them good luck with the sorting.

Professor McGonagall stepped out of the great hall and all the children quieted down.

"Thank you for bringing them to me, Hagrid."

"'twasn't much Professor," said Hagrid. "Happy to be of help. If you need me, I'll be down in my cabin. Good night Professor."

"Good night Hagrid." Minerva turned her attention to the children in front of her as Hagrid walked out of the castle. "Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Minera McGonagall, but you will call me Professor McGonagall. Now, in a few minutes you will be sorted into one four houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw. I look forward to seeing what all of you can accomplish during your seven years within these halls. Now, come along." Minerva turned around and opened the doors to the great hall.

Harry and Ron were amazed by how it looked. This was fantastic compared to how it looked during the summer. The ceiling looked like the night sky and candles floated in the air. And the food! The food that they ate during the summer was nothing compared to what was laid out on the tables.

They all come to a stop in front of the steps. At the top of the steps before the teacher's table is a stool with an old, worn hat. The hat begins to sing a song about how it sorts the students.

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!_"

"Yes, thank you," says Minerva dryly as she takes out a parchment and begins to call out names. Harry watches as one by one, each one of his year mates gets sorted.

"Hermione Granger." Harry looks up as he sees the bushy-haired girl from the train step up and sit down on the stool. Not two seconds after McGonagall placed the hat on her head did it yell out, "GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table burst into cheers as Hermione rushes over to the Gryffindor table.

"Daphne Greengrass!" Harry watches as the grey-eyed girl sits on the stool. After a few minutes, the hat yells his decision.

"Slytherin!" Daphne smiled and walked over to join the Slytherins. Harry continued to watch student get sorted. The pudgy boy from with the toad went to Gryffindor, the blonde prat went to Slytherin, and Ria also went to Gryffindor. Finally, it was his turn.

"Harry Potter!" Harry walked up while everyone in the hall started whispering about who he was. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Hermione's eyes widen in realization of who he was. Harry sat down and felt the sorting hat fall onto his head.

"_Interesting," _whispered the hat. "_You are hard-working and devoted to those you call friend. You crave knowledge like nothing else. You lap it all up like a sponge. And yet, you are devious and cunning to get what you want. Hmm, where to put you? You would do well in Slytherin._"

"Please, not Slytherin."

"_Oh? Not Slytherin? Are you sure? You could become great!_"

"No, not Slytherin."

"_Hmm. Very well. If it isn't going to be Slytherin, better be HUFFLEPUFF!"_ The Hufflepuff table stood up screaming, 'We got Potter!'

Harry ambled over to the Hufflepuff and sat down with the other Hufflepuff first years, taking a seat next to Susan Bones. Harry watched until Ron sat down on the stool. McGonagall hadn't even fully put the hat on before it yelled out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The other Weasleys at the Gryffindor table stared in shock as Ron walked over to sit down next to Harry. Harry high fived Ron as the stared at the delicious food in front of them. Soon enough, the sorting was over. The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore stood up as McGonagall removed the stool from the hall and returned to her seat.

"Welcome first years, and welcome back to everyone else. Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddmeant! Tweak! Thank you and enjoy the food."

Harry paid no more attention and carefully scooped some mashed potatoes, green beans, and a leg of roast chicken onto his plate. In his goblet, it was filled with pumpkin juice, something he had gotten accustomed to drinking during his month-long stay during the summer.

"Hello," said a boy sitting across from the table. "I'm Ernie Macmillan. Nice to meet 'ya!"

"Likewise," said Harry as bit into his roast chicken. "My name is Harry. This foodie over here is Ron."

"Nice to meet you Ron."

"Hello, I'm Susan Bones," said the girl sitting next to Harry. "Can I ask if any of the books are true?" Harry blinked and looked at Susan in confusion.

"Books…what books?"

"You know…the books written about you?" Harry stared at Susan like she had grown a second head before turning to Ron.

"What is she on about? There's no books written about me, right?"

"Sure, if you don't count the fiction books that are obviously not true. Honestly, what five-year old goes to slay a dragon when he could be eating?" asks Ron as he spoons some more mashed potatoes.

"Wait, you knew and didn't tell me?"

"I thought you knew since I guessed you browsed all of Flourish and Blotts when you went to pick up your school supplies. I just based that off of how you browsed through the library over the summer."

"I most certainly wasn't that bad. And no, I didn't since McGonagall got me my books while I was getting my wand. Now are there or are there not books about me?"

"There are," conceded Ron. Harry growled in anger.

"So, there are people profiting off my name and I'm not reaping any of the benefits. Who do I talk to about getting reparations and getting these books removed?"

"Uh…my aunt is the head of the department of magic law enforcement. I'm sure she could recommend a good lawyer for you to talk to," said Susan.

"Yeah, and my mom has a friend in the publishing industry. I'm sure she could get a list of all the people who published books about you without your permission," said another girl. "Oh, and my name is Hannah."

"And I'm the heir to the Macmillan family. I am sure I can get my father to put pressure somehow."

"That would be brilliant, but are you sure? You guys barely even know me."

"Yeah, but we're Hufflepuffs. The rest of the world sees as the bottom of the barrel, the leftovers. We stick together." Harry smiled.

"Well then, when I get money from the people who used my name, I'm sharing with all of you!"

"YAY!" yelled Ernie, Susan, and Hannah. Ron and Harry just fist bumped. The other first years looked at the odd group and went back to eating. Harry looked over at Daphne and saw her engaged in an animated discussion with a brunette girl. Daphne looked up and saw Harry looking and waved.

Harry waved back and returned to his meal. After a lot of eating and discussions about what it was like living in the wizarding world from Susan, Hannah, and Ernie, the food disappeared and Dumbledore stood up.

"Now that we have eaten our full, prefects please lead the first-years to your common room. But before you go, I have a few announcements. First, Mr. Filch has a list of all banned items on his office. That includes Fanged Frisbees. Next, the third floor is off limits this year. Go there at your own risk. And finally, a reminder for all students: the forest is off limits. Now, off to bed!"

"First years! Come this way." Harry and the rest of his Hufflepuff year mates followed one of the older students out of the great hall. Together, they all walked down to the lower levels of the castle. "Alright, so the location of our common room is not to be known by anyone who is not in Hufflepuff. Now, do you see those barrels?" Harry looked to where the prefect was pointing in nook where there was a stack of barrels. "The entrance to the common room is located in the second barrel from the bottom and middle of the second row. Merely tap your wand on the barrel to the tune of 'Helga Hufflepuff'. This will open up the lid of the barrel and will let you crawl to the common room. Do note that tapping the wrong barrel or tapping too many times will result in you getting doused in vinegar."

"Yikes," muttered Harry.

"Anyone want to give it a try first?" When none of the other first years were stepping forward, Harry took the initiative. Taking out his wand, Harry tapped the correct barrel five times, opening up the barrel lid.

"Well done Harry. Now, this is another secret known only to a few, but you see that fake fruit bowl?" The first years looked at the fruit bowl and nodded. "If you rub the pear, a door will open leading you to the kitchens. Don't let me catch you sneaking in there after curfew. But if I don't see you…I never knew." All the Hufflepuffs grinned and nodded. "Alright Harry, go on in. We'll follow behind you."

Harry got into the barrel and began crawling through the passageway until he reached the door the common room. Opening it, Harry crawled out and found himself in a very cozy room. All around the room were wooden and copper circular items along with a great number of plants. Not surprising in the least since Hufflepuff is supposed to be known for being good at Herbology.

"Wow," whispered Ron as he looked at the common room. "This is much better than the Gryffindor common room!"

"You've seen the Gryffindor common room already?" Harry and Ron turned to see the prefect.

"Yes, uh…what was your name again?"

"Gabriel Truman. Now how have you already seen it. You haven't even been here a whole day!"

"Oh, we were here over the summer," replied Ron as Harry wandered over to the fire place and sat in front of the fire, smiling in content. "Harry doesn't have a good home life so McGonagall said he could stay here during the summer and I was here with my brother who was apprenticed to McGonagall over the summer."

"I see. Well you all will find your stuff in your rooms. Boys will be on the first floor to the right. Girls will be the same to the left. Your trunks should have been moved there already.

"_Harry, this is a good common room_." Everyone froze when they heard the hissing in the common room but couldn't identify where it was coming from.

"Mhm," agreed Harry, not noticing everyone including Ron looking for the hissing.

"_Can I come out? It's getting a little stuffy under your shirt."_ Harry responded by pulling at his shirt, giving Hedwig room to slighter out.

"What the hell Harry? How long has Hedwig been on you?" yelled Ron as he hid behind Gabriel. Gabriel to his credit, tried his best not to look freaked out.

"Um, since this morning? She normally is wrapped around my shoulder and arm. Why are you freaking out?"

"Harry." Harry looked over to Susan who was standing on the edge of the common room. "Snakes don't really have a good connotation in the wizarding world. Didn't Ron tell you that?"

"No, I didn't. I knew he had a pet snake, I just didn't know he had her on him all the time!" cried Ron as he walked out from behind Gabriel. "Sorry for freaking out mate."

"It's alright. Do you guys mind if Hedwig slithers around the common room? She's just a corn snake. She won't hurt anyone."

"As long as she doesn't try to eat my pet mouse, it's fine Potter," replied Gabriel as he got over his surprise. Harry smiled and placed Hedwig on the ground. She hissed happily and started slithering around the common room.

"Now if you don't mind, I'm going to head up to my room. The upper years should be along shortly. If you need anything, don't hesitate to come find me. There is another prefect named Lillian McDowell. She came down with the flu yesterday so you won't see her for a few days. The other prefects will introduce themselves throughout the week." Gabriel gave the first years a look before heading up the stairs.

"Snake, huh?" asked Hannah.

"Yeah. Hedwig's the best. I also have a raven that I named Minunn."

"After Odin's raven?" asked Ernie.

"Yep."

"Whatever floats your boat. I'm going to go up and start unpacking. Are girls and boys allowed in each other's rooms?"

"Yes." The first years turned to see one of the older students enter the common room. "We're not like Ravenclaw and Gryffindor where the stairs send boys careening down the stairs if they try to go up the female staircase. Just remember to be kind to each other. You won't like the consequences if you don't."

"Thank you!"

"No problem. My name is Cedric by the way. If you ever need anything, I'm also available. And if any of you first years want to play some quidditch even if you're not on the house team, let me know and we can try to put together a pick-up game."

"Seriously?" asked Ron. Cedric nodded. "What about brooms? Does the school have any decent brooms we can use?"

"Unfortunately no. The brooms the school has are little better than training brooms. But we'll see what we can do about that. You guys should unpack and get your textbooks ready for tomorrow. Oh and read the first chapter of your potions textbook."

"Why?" Cedric looked over to the boy, who Harry remembered as being Zacharias Smith or something.

"Because Professor Snape hates Hufflepuffs. Thinks we are the worst bunch of people. He will ask you questions that are only possible to know if you read ahead. Ta-ta!" Harry watched as Cedric went upstairs before making a decision.

"Hedwig, come." Hedwig slithered back over to Harry's outstretched arm. "Let's go look at that potions textbook." Harry walked upstairs with the other Hufflepuff first year boys not far behind. They had heard the rumors of Snape at dinner and none of them wanted to be on the receiving end of his wrath in their first week.

|Next morning|

Harry stretched as he woke up at around 6 in the morning. Ever since he came to Hogwarts, he had gotten into the habit of waking up early. At the end of his bed four poster bed was a small dresser where he had put his clothes. On top of the dresser, Harry had left Minunn's cage and tank for Hewig to sleep as well as a place to shed when it came time for it. Next to Harry's bed sat his trunk. Harry got out of the bed and began taking out his clothes to begin his morning exercises. It was something Charlie had suggested he and Ron do, especially if Ron wanted to make the quidditch team while he was at Hogwarts.

"You up?" Harry looked over to see Ron was also getting ready to go do their morning exercises.

"Yep. An hour running around the black lake should be good enough for the first day. We'll start reincorporating the other exercises as soon as we figure out how hard it is to concentrate with daily classes."

"Makes sense to me. Is Minunn coming with?" Harry opened Minunn's cage and held out his arm. Minunn regarded the arm before turning his head to fall back asleep. "Alright then. Hedwig?"

"_I'm sleepy. Go away. Join you when you come back…_"

"Looks like neither of them are joining us. Let's get going." Ron nodded and the two of them headed down the stairs and out of the common room. After crawling out of the barrels, Harry and Ron broke into a jog as they left Hogwarts behind and left the gates behind as well as the ran down to the Black Lake.

"You ready?" asked Ron.

"Yes. But also, we've never run for a full hour around the black lake continuously."

"What are you talking about? We've run around the black lake before."

"Yes, one lap. How many laps do you think we can do in one hour?"

"Um at least two or…oh! I see what you're saying. Yeah, we're going to be screwed this morning. Ready to be screwed together?"

"Let's go." Harry and Ron broke off in a jog, pacing themselves as they ran around the lake. Neither of them talked, trying to conserve their oxygen as they ran around the lake. After about 20 minutes, the two boys were nearing the end of the first circuit.

"Want to see how fast we can sprint?" asked Harry, turning to see a semi-tired Ron.

"You just want to tire me out, don't you?"

"Duh."

"Fine. Let's do it." The two boys looked each other in the eyes and then sped up, running as fast as they could. Harry and Ron were neck and neck for almost the entire time up until the final few moments where Ron was able to pull away due to his slightly longer legs, giving him the victory over Harry. Ron slowed back down from the sprint speed to grin at Harry.

"You lost."

"Shut it. I never claimed that I was going to win. I just asked if you wanted to sprint. You're the one who assumed it was going to be a race."

"Like you wouldn't have lorded it over me if you win," retorted Ron.

"…that has no prevalence in this conversation."

"Like hell it does," complained Ron as the two started their second lap. "If it had been you who won, you would have been crowing that despite being slightly shorter, you won the sprint. Now let's hurry up with this sprint so we can get back to the common room and shower."

"Fine, fine." The two boys continued their run around the lake, albeit at a much slower pace. When the two Hufflepuffs had finished their second lap, the time was already 6:50. Deciding to forgo another lap, they decided to do some other muggle exercises, such as squats and pushups for the remaining ten minutes before heading back to the common room.

|Common Room|

Sweating heavily, Ron and Harry entered the empty common room with most of their classmates still in bed. Quietly, the two opened the door to the first-year room and slid inside. Quietly, Harry grabbed a towel from his trunk and the clothes that he intended on wearing during the day. Meanwhile, Ron had just stripped down to his birthday suit, thrown all his clothes in the hamper and was now wearing his towel around his waist.

After showering, the two returned to the room to grab their school bags and loaded their muggle notebooks or in Ron's case, loads of parchment, and all of their school textbooks as neither of them wanted to return to the room as they didn't know yet what their class schedule would look like. Hedwig slithered up Harry's sleeve while Minunn went outside to fly and do whatever it is that ravens do. Harry did leave the window ajar so he could return if he wished. Silently, the two exited the room and made their way down to the Great Hall around 7:30.

Seeing the Great Hall was mostly empty, Harry and Ron took a seat at the Hufflepuff table and took out their charms textbooks and began quizzing each other on the chapters that they had already learned over the summer. Harry and Ron began asking each other questions while having a feather, two pens, and one quill floating around them as they talked.

Not paying attention to anyone else, Harry and Ron don't even notice the looks that they are getting from the other students as they begin to fill up the hall. It was only someone tapped Harry's shoulder that the two friends were pulled out of their reverie. Harry turns around as he wandless directs all of the floating objects onto the table.

"Daphne? What's up?" Harry sees his blonde Slytherin friend with a raised eyebrow.

"I was about to ask you the same thing? What was with all the objects floating around you?"

"Oh that?" asks Harry as he collects the items and places them back into his bag. "I guess it would be an application of the levitation charm, wingardium leviosa. Ron and I use that to practice continuous use of our magic so that we can use that spell without even thinking about it."

"Hmm. And how is it that you know the spell already?"

"Ron and I were staying at Hogwarts over the summer, so we got to practice a lot of magic. So, we had the chance to get through a good portion of charms, DADA, and transfiguration." Daphne's eyes lit up and she smiled down at Harry.

"In other words, you know most of what we are going to be learning this term?" Harry felt cold air pass through as he looked at Daphne's smile.

"Um…I guess?"

"Great. Meet me in the library at 7." Daphne turned around went over to the Slytherin table. Harry turned around to look at Ron.

"What the hell was that?" asked Harry. Ron just shrugged.

"Don't ask me. I don't understand girls."

"And what do you not understand about us?" Harry looks over to see Hannah and Susan sit down next to him while Ernie and Justin sat down next to Ron.

"Oh, it just Daphne told harry to meet her in the library at 7 and then didn't even give him a chance to respond before she left." Susan giggled at Ron's explanation.

"Ah, well, you boys will just have to learn the insides of girl's mind eventually. Now, what is this rumor that I heard on my way to breakfast that you two had objects floating around you two?" As she said this, the food began to appear on the serving plates in the middle of the table.

"Ah, it was nothing. Ron and I got up early, so we came down to quiz each other on some of the reading we did. We just…happened to have objects revolving around us for 20 minutes while we talked."

"You say that like it's an everyday occurrence," grumbled Justin as he served himself some scrambled eggs and bacon. Harry and Ron put away their books start piling their plates with food. As they ate, Professor Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff, walked down the aisle handing out class schedules to everyone.

"Hm, we have charms first," muttered Ron as he looked at the schedule. "Um…does anyone know how to find the charms classroom?"

"Oh yeah, you two weren't in the common room earlier. Gabriel said that the prefects would guide us to class so that we wouldn't get lost. Oh, and while all of Hufflepuff knows about your snake now, Gabriel mentioned you probably shouldn't let the rest of the school find out, especially the Gryffindors."

"Why?" asked Harry looking at Ernie. Ernie looked over at Ron who sighed.

"Gryffindors, and my brothers in particular aren't exactly the most accepting. Actually, they are very judgmental. And if it involves snakes or anything related to the Slytherin house, well then tough luck getting them to listen." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. It's not like I'm broadcasting it to the rest of the school," mumbled Harry as he took a strip of bacon and put it in his mouth. As they ate, Minunn flew down to the table to rest on Harry's shoulder as owls flooded the Great Hall dropping off mail. Harry snickered as his raven attempted to rip the bacon into bite sized pieced. As soon as he ate his fill, Minunn flew off with the rest of the owls. Harry smiles as he finished his meal and continue to talk with his friends before Gabriel walks over.

"Alright firsties, ready to head to your first class?" A resounding silence is his answer. "Good answer. Now let's get you to…Flitwick's classroom. Come along. And it looks like you're going to be partnered with Slytherin. Well, just hope you don't have to be paired with Slytherin for potions."

"And why is that?" asked Ernie as he got up from the table.

"Because Snape will let Slytherins get away with anything. And they are not above sabotaging your potions, even if Snape is watching them. Now come along," said Gabriel as he walked out the Great Hall with the first-years in tow. As they walk, Gabriel hands out a map of the castle. "Keep this map on you at all times. If you need to know where you are, just tap the map and say 'my location'. And to find your way to a specific location, just say where you want to go and the map will show you how to get there."

"Does every first-year get these?" asked Hannah as she examined the map. "My mom never mentioned these."

"No. I worked with Professor Flitwick to create these. So only the Hufflepuffs have them. I would ask that you not share them with your peers from other houses as it has the location of our common room included." Gabriel comes to a stop outside of the charms classroom. "Alright, here is your stop. I will be back to lead you to your next class." The first-years file into the classroom to see their diminutive professor standing on a desk at the front of the classroom.

All the Hufflepuffs take their seats, take out their parchment and quills for notes, their charms textbook, and their wands and then start conversing with each other as they wait for their Slytherin peers to get to the classroom.

Harry is animatedly discussing with Susan what it's like to live in the muggle world versus living as the heiress of a prominent noble house. As they were talking, Harry noticed Daphne walk in with other her classmates and waved at her. Daphne gave a small smile and waved back.

As soon as the Slytherins had taken a seat, Professor Flitwick moved his podium towards him.

"Hello everyone! To the Hufflepuffs I haven't met yet, I am Professor Fillius Flitwick. And yes, I am part-goblin, in case anyone was wondering why I am so short. I am the Head of Ravenclaw, a former dueling champion, and your current Hogwarts charms professor. Now, please put away your parchment and quills. There is no need for that today. We will be practicing a very simple spell. But before we can do that, let's go over how to tap into our magic. Can anyone answer that question? Hmm. How about you, Mr. Smith?"

Zacharias Smith looked like a deer caught in headlights and froze. He stuttered but couldn't even manage to get a single word out. As he stuttered, Hannah rose her hand to try and save her housemate.

"Ms. Abbott?"

"In order to invoke our magic, we use our wand as a conduit. By using our wand, it doesn't require the witch or wizard to be extremely focused on the output of our inner magic. Instead, we can use a series of swishes, flickers, or jabs as ways of directing our magic and the words is to give an association with a certain effect."

"Very well done, Ms. Abbott. That is indeed correct. If young wizards and witches such as yourselves were to use magic without a wand, a great deal more focus would be required to even get any effect. You would have to focus on drawing out your magic from within and expelling it. Now, does anyone know why we use different action with different spells instead of just saying the incantation and just pointing with a wand?" A brunette Slytherin raised her hand. "Yes, Ms. Davis?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think I read that for beginner's, it helps direct our magic for each spell. As we get older, it becomes more of a secondary thing and we will be able to cast spells with a simple flick, jab, or a wave."

"Very good. That is correct. In the beginning, you'll need to execute the wand motions correctly. But as you develop as wizards and you master spells, it will become unnecessary to use the spell motions. Now, I think that's enough talking. Grab you textbook and turn to page 7. The wand movement and information about the spell we will be learning is located there. Now, everyone practice saying the incantation."

"Windgordium Levioso," said the class as they tried to pronounce the spell.

"Close, but not quite right. Wing**a**rdium Levios**a**," corrected Flitwick. "Try it again."

"Wingardium Leviosa." Flitwick clapped.

"Good job. Now, take out your wands an upwards swish," said Flitwick as he traced an upwards swish, "And then a downwards flick." Flitwick finished the wand movement by bringing the tip of his wand down, and the flicking it back up just a bit. Everyone in the class, including Harry and Ron, practiced the swish and flick. "A bit more a pronounced flick, Mr. Zabini. Your upwards swish has to be one movement, Mr. Malfoy." The class tried again. "Too much upward movement on the flick, Ms. Perkins. Try making the switch from the swish to the flick more fluid, Ms. Parkinson. One more time and then we'll try with feathers." The class did the swish and flick one more time. "Hmm, good enough," murmured Flitwick as he waved his wand and the pile of feathers on the table he was standing on floated over to each student.

"Can we just practice?" asked Susan.

"Go ahead." Susan stared at the feather, her eyebrows furrowed as she concentrated.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather shook a little, rising a bit into the air before falling back down onto the table.

"Don't worry if you don't get it on the first try. Just keep trying and it will work for you. But remember that the most important part of using magic is your intent."

Harry stared at the feather in front of him. Instead of using his wand, he reached down within and found his magical core, just as he had a few days ago. Closing his eyes, Harry slowly brought his magic out to the fore and pictured the feather floating up into the air. He held out his hand and shakily, the feather rose inch by inch. He didn't even notice Susan, Flitwick, or the rest of the class staring at him in shock. The only one not in shock at Harry's actions were Ron, who had seen this over the summer.

Flitwick stared at shock at his student. Minerva had told him that Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley had stayed over at Hogwarts for a month during the summer, but to have this level of improvement? It was unprecedented. To have mastered the first year spells to this extent was unheard of, even if the student had studied only one spell for a month. But Flitwick made no noise. He wasn't going to interrupt something his student was obviously struggling hard to keep up, if the beads of sweat on his forehead were anything to go by.

Harry finally was forced to let the spell go before he slumped forwards in his seat, his cheek hitting the desk. Flitwick jumped off the table and over to where Harry was sitting.

"Are you okay, Mr. Potter?"

"Yeah, Professor. I haven't been able to keep that up for that long ever."

"I would think not. It is not common that students can wordlessly and windlessly cast spells, even the most basic spells. Can you do it with a wand?"

"Yeah. Want me to show you?"

"That won't be necessary. 50 points to Hufflepuff. Next person to get the spell correct will win another 30 points." Harry glanced over at Ron who shook his head. Harry gave him a raised eyebrow and nodded. Ron glared and tried to shake his head, but Harry gave him a pointed stare. Ron sighed before taking his wand and pointed it at the feather. Ron even did the swish and flick before repeating the necessary words.

"Wingardium Leviosa." Ron's feather began floating up into the sky, flying through the classroom at a slow and deliberate pace.

"Well done, Mr. Weasley! Take another 30 points for Hufflepuff." By this time, Harry had recovered enough to get back up and grabbed his wand. Waving his wand, Harry levitated his wand to join Ron's in flight, floating around the classroom.

"Impressive, Mr. Potter. Now let's some others try."

"Psst…Harry?" Harry looked over to Susan.

"Yeah?"

"Any pointers?"

"Mhm, I guess my pointer would be your intent. Picture the feather floating, what does it look like as it floats up into the air?" Susan nodded and focused on the feather. She pointed her wand at the feather and started the wand movement.

"Wingardium Leviosa." Susan's feather started lifted shakily for a few seconds before starting to float normally.

"Take another 20 points for Slytherin and Hufflepuff." Harry looked up to see Daphne had managed to get her feather up as well. Harry gave her a thumbs up. As Flitwick went around the class to try and help them get a hang of the spell, Harry opened his charms book to where he had left off, which was in the latter half of the book. Harry read and absentmindedly started practicing the wand movement as he read.

To his side, Susan glanced over his should and gasped when she saw how far ahead he was in the textbook. Susan grabbed Harry's arm and pulled so that Harry was facing her.

"Harry. Hannah and I are coming to your study session."

"But–"

"Nope. We are coming and joining you."

"Fine. You get to tell Daphne. Ron will also be coming to help out."

"Ron?"

"Yeah, he and I worked together to get to where we are during the summer. So he actually knows some of the stuff." Susan nodded as all the students worked on improving the spell that they were learning. After about another half an hour of students attempting to get the spell right, Flitwick drew everyone's attention.

"Alright, everyone, good job to those of you who were able to get the spell down. And to those who weren't able to master it as much as your peers, do not fret. For homework, I want those who mastered it to give examples on how you would effectively use the spell in daily life. For those who didn't master the spell, write about why you didn't get the spell down, and how you are going to master it. I expect 1 foot of parchment on this done by tomorrow."

"Yes Professor!" replied the class.

"Good. I believe your escort is here."

"Hi Professor Flitwick. I'll see you in class after I get these my Hufflepuff rascals to Transfiguration."

"See you later Gabriel."

"Alright firsties, come with me to get to Transfiguration. Wouldn't want you being late. Oh and this one will be fun. You have it with Slytherin." The Hufflepuffs all filed out of the classroom and followed Gabriel as he directed them to where the transfiguration classroom was located. "Okay little ones, here's your stop. Have fun and watch out for cats." All the first-year Hufflepuffs looked at Gabriel like he was crazy as the entered the classroom.

**A/N: Welp, sorry about the break. Edited the previous chapters a little and I did another long chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed. Please let me know what you thought. Till next week. I'm going to try, but no promises, to have a chapter ready for Christmas day and a chapter for that weekend. Till next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Harry and Ron walked into the empty classroom and sat down. However, unlike with Charms and Flitwick, McGonagall was nowhere to be seen. All that could be seen was a lithe tabby cat licking her fur. Harry took out his wand, textbook, parchment, quill and inkwell, but started looking around as he was tried to find the professor while they waited for the Slytherins to join them in the classroom.

"_Why are you looking around?" _Harry's eyes twitched as he heard Hedwig's whisper.

"Trying to find our professor."

"_But she's right here. It's the cat._" Harry's eyes widened as he studied the cat on the table. The cat caught him staring at her and stared back, making Harry look away.

"Are you sure? How?"

"_The cat smells like you're the professor who led us into the great hall yesterday._"

"And you can smell all that from inside my clothes?" snorted Harry.

"_Of course. I'm a magical snake_." Harry rolled his eyes and nudged Ron in the arm. Ron looked over at Harry.

"Guess where McGonagall is."

"What? You already located her?" asked Ron as he twisted in his seat trying to spot the professor as Slytherins started to file in. Harry noticed Draco giving him a nasty glare.

"Yep. She's in the front on the table."

"What do you mean she's in the front? The only one up there is the cat…wait you can't really mean to tell me that McGonagall is the cat sitting in front of us?" Harry just smiled and nodded. "But how did you figure that out?"

"Hedwig. Apparently being a magical snake allows her to differentiate the smells of our professors. And she said the cat up front smells like McGonagall." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Well, what do you suggest we do?"

"Well, if I had the ability, I'd conjure a bunch of catnip and give it to McGonagall. Unfortunately, no one in the class has that ability. I guess we just tell the rest of our house." Harry turned around to Susan and Hannah, who were sitting in the desk behind them. "Hey Susan."

"Yeah?"

"Want to know where McGonagall is?" Susan raised her eyebrows and nodded. "She's the cat." Susan and Hannah's eyes widen as the look at the cat then back at Harry and then back at the cat again.

"You're positive?" asked Hannah.

"Guaranteed by Hedwig the magical snake, herself." Hannah rolled her eyes at the mention Harry's pet snake. "Go ahead and roll your eyes. I will totally tell you, 'I told you so', if she is right."

"Want to bet on it?" asked Hannah.

"You're on. 5 Galleons."

"Done. 5 Galleons. And when McGonagall walks into the room and picks up her cat, you are going to regret it!" crowed Hannah as she grinned, completely confident in her victory. Harry smiled.

As soon as the clock in the room hit the hour mark, the cat jumped off the desk and turned into a cat. Hannah's jaw dropped as the other members of the class stared in shock. Everyone that is, except for Ron, Harry, and Susan. Harry turned to Hannah and smirked.

"Pay up." Hannah grumbled as she passed 5 Galleons to Harry.

"I see Mr. Potter was able to deduce that I was the cat," said a barely smiling McGonagall. "10 points to Hufflepuff for deducing this fact. Now let's begin the lesson. Did you all go over the theory of magic in your previous class?" The Hufflepuffs all nodded while the Slytherins shook their head.

"Who did you have before me?" asked McGonagall, look at the Slytherin half of the class.

"We had Professor Snape and potions, Professor." McGonagall nodded. "I see. Well then, I will be doing another presentation on the theory of magic. Hufflepuffs, feel free to listen and follow along or start reading the Transfiguration textbook. And if you finish the chapter, begin practicing the spell in the first chapter." McGonagall waved her wand and matchbooks floated over from the table at the front to each student. "The spell will be one that transforms the matches into a needle." Harry and Ron had already tuned out McGonagall as soon as they had received their matches and started writing to determine how they were going to do the assignment.

'How complicated do we go?' wrote Harry.

'Really pointy needles. Duh.'

'That's a given. But should we embellish it. Like transfigure that matchbook itself along with the matches?'

'You could just do it wandless again'

'I don't have the energy to do that again, especially if we're going to be embellishing in things. Doing it for as long as I did in Charms exhausted me.'

'Let's see who can get nine needles first. One silver, one gold, one black, one green, one red, one yellow, and one blue.' Harry nodded his agreement, and both took out nine matches and placed it in front of them.

Harry stared at the first match and began picturing the object within his mind. First, he constructed what the needle should look like and how it would feel between his fingers. He imagined how it would feel if one of the points punctured his skin. He imagined the deep red color, similar to the color of blood. Harry waved his wand and muttered the incantation.

"Conmuntocus." The first match quickly turned into a deep red needle. Harry took the needle and felt it in his hand before touching his thumb to the end of the needle and was pleased that he could actually feel the stinging sensation. Harry pulled his thumb away before the needle could actually pierce his skin. "One down," said Harry as Ron transfigured his first match.

"Yeah, yeah, so did I. Keep up the pace." By this point, McGonagall had already finished her talk on magic theory and looked over to the Hufflepuff side and was shocked and horrified to see Harry and Ron holding their wands with matches out instead of reading their books.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Weasley! What do you think you are doi- " McGongall's words died in her mouth as she saw the perfectly transfigured needle. She grabbed Harry's red needle and Ron's green needle, feeling them and testing their sharpness. "Very well done boys. 20 points each to Hufflepuff for being the first two to get the spell down. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised based off of how much you two practiced this over the summer. Try transfiguring your other matches into different colors and then reverting the process. The incantation is the same." Harry and Ron nodded and smiled when they noticed Malfoy glaring at them with a huge douse of jealousy present on his face.

"Yes ma'am." As McGongall began her lecture on transfiguration as a subject and on the first spell that they would be learning, Working quickly and efficiently, Harry and Ron focused on creating more needles from the other eight matches. Soon enough they had all nine matches turned into needles, with both of them finishing at exactly the same time. Harry and Ron both frowned.

"We're going to need to see who can revert all of them the quickest in order to determine the winner of this match," grumbled Harry. Ron nodded silently as he quietly pointed his wand at the needles. Quickly, Ron muttered the spell over and over again, picturing the needles turning into matches. One after another, each needle returned to its original form along with the coloring becoming uniform amongst all the matches. Ron turned to grin at Harry when he saw that his friend had his wand on the table and all of his needles transfigured back into matches.

"How?" asked Ron. "There's no way you could have had time to put down your wand and lean back! Even if you were faster than me, there's no way you had THAT much time." Harry grinned.

"The secret to my speed is that I was more efficient."

"Come again?" asked Ron as he noticed Susan out of the corner of his eye attempt the spell but only managed to change the color of the match.

"Instead of transfiguring them all one by one, I transfigured all of them at the same time. Since I was transforming all the objects into the same object with uniform features, there was no need to do it one by one." Ron blinked and looked at Harry back at the matches and then back at Harry before slamming his head into the desk.

"Stupid!"

"Mr. Weasley, is there a problem?" Ron glanced up to see McGonagall standing before him.

"No. Just Harry outsmarting me in changing the needles back into matches. Didn't think that I could transfigure all the needles back into matches with one spell rather than nine individual spells."

"Did he now? Very impressive Mr. Potter. Take another 10 points for Hufflepuff. Seeing as you two have finished the spell, please read ahead for the next chapter until class is over or help out your classmates." Harry and Ron immediately turned around to Susan and Hannah.

"You two need help?" As they did this, Ernie and Justin had scooted over to try and hear some tips.

"We do as well, please." Harry nodded.

"Okay, please do the spell once for me." All four Hufflepuffs waved their wands and said the incantation. Harry and Ron watched as each match changed. Susan's merely turned into a silver match. The wooden part of Hannah's became pointy, but it remained wooden. Ernie's match turned into metal, but it still looked like a match. Justin's just became thinner. "Okay, I know what's wrong."

"What is it?" asked Susan.

"What are you imagining when you say the spell?" asked Harry as he looked into the eyes of each of his housemates.

"Uh, a needle?" responded Hannah.

"Yes, but what does the needle look like. What does it feel like? When you roll it between your fingers, is the material coarse or is smooth? Does the point of the needle sharp enough to break the skin when you prick your finger on it or is the point blunt and harmless? Is the color of the needle reflective and clean or is muddled and blotched? When you say the spell, you must know all this. You must be able to picture all this in your mind before the spell will work."

"You thought about all that?" asked Ernie. Harry nodded. Ernie sighed and grabbed a needle from Hannah's matchbox. They all watched as Ernie furrowed his brows in concentration. After a few minutes, he waved his birch wand over the match and loudly pronounced the word, "Conmuntocus."

Before all their eyes, the match lengthened and thinned. The red tip disappeared as the match turned to a silver color. The tips sharpened into two sharp tips before the match thinned even more and taking the form of a needle. Ernie smiled ruefully.

"You did it!" Ernie turned to see Justin smiling. "Up top!" Justin gave Ernie a high five, a resounding slap echoing through the room. McGonagall walked over to the group of students and gave them a tight smile.

"Very good Mr. MacMillian. Another 10 points to Hufflepuff. As with Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, please transform the needle back into a match. I hope the rest of you get this done as well. I would hate for the three of you have to do homework while your friends have none." McGonagall walked away to go assist one of the Slytherins. Harry looked at the other Hufflepuffs.

"Well? If Ernie can do it, there's no way that you can't do it. I have given you all the advice that you need to complete the task. It is now up to you to complete the spell." Harry turned around from his housemates and continued to continue reading his transfiguration textbook. As he read, Harry could hear Ron mention a few extra tips before he turned around as well to continue reading from his textbook.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"You do realize that because we helped them that they are now going to be included in the study session tonight? Harry blinked.

"Ah fuck."

"We're going to need to find a classroom to conduct our nightly study sessions, aren't we?"

"Unless Madam Pince has some study rooms that we can use, yes. Want to just grab lunch from the kitchen and then head over to the library to see if we can secure a study room?"

"Definitely. So far, we have Daphne, Susan, Hannah, Ernie, and Justin. How much do you want to bet that by the end of the month, we also have students from Gryffindor and Slytherin?"

"Well based on my luck, that's a fool's bet. I might as well just give you the money if I make that bet."

"So that's a no?" asked Ron.

"That's a hard no." Harry and Ron continued to read their textbooks, and practice other spells from the textbook. McGonagall observed them from afar, but didn't comment on the action as she walked through the classroom to help students as they attempted to nail the spell down. By the end of the class, only Harry and his friends as well as Malfoy and Zabini had managed to complete the spell. Harry had noticed Zabini paying attention to his words when he had given Susan, Hannah, Ernie, and Justin the clue that had led to them completing the spell.

"Alright everyone," said McGonagall as she concluded the class. "Everyone who managed the spell will have no homework except to read the next chapter and to bring me a list of uses for this spell and why would it be useful. The rest of the class will do that in addition to explaining how to cast the spell and why you were unable to do it in class. I expect 3 feet of parchment from those who completed the spell and 6 feet from those who did not. I will see you all at lunch." All the students packed up their belongings and exited the class. The Hufflepuffs were met by Gabriel who smiled.

"How was class?" asked Gabriel as he started walking towards the Great Hall. Susan and Hannah began to talk about how Harry and Ron helped them. Gabriel turned to congratulate the two Hufflepuffs, but to his surprise, Harry and Ron had disappeared. "Where did they go? Don't they know it's lunch time?"

"They headed towards the common room. I saw them heading that way while I was walking back from the common room." Gabriel turned around to see one of the sixth-year prefects, Evie Baker, walking towards them. "Hello everyone, I am Evie Baker, one of the sixth-year prefects for Hufflepuff."

"What could they need from the common room?" wondered Gabriel. "Whatever the case may be, they know their way to the great hall. We'll see them later."

|Kitchen|

"Excuse me?" Harry peeked his head into the kitchen and looked around, seeing a number of house elves bustling around, preparing food. When they heard Harry, they all stopped, looked at him, before resuming their tasks with an exception of a few elves.

"Mister Harry! What is yous doing down here?" asked one of the elves. Harry looked at the elf, who was wearing a light blue linen cloth with the crest of Hogwarts stitched into the left hand side.

"Hi Mipsy. Ron and I were wondering if we could get some sandwiches to go so we can go to the library during the lunch hour." Mipsy looked around Harry to see Ron conversing with another one of the elves, Letty.

"Fine, Mister Harry, but next time, please ask us in the morning if you are planning on grabbing lunch from the kitchens so you don't have to go to the great hall."

"I will Mipsy. Sorry Mipsy." Mipsy rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. Plates of bread, cheese, sliced meat, and a tub of butter floated over to where she was standing. With another snap, the bread buttered itself before laying itself down on a new plate as the cheese and meat layered laid down on the bread. Finally, a second piece of bread buttered itself and laid on the meat, finishing the sandwich creation. MIpsy did the process three more times. "Here yous goes, Mister Harry."

"Thanks Mipsy. Ron, our sandwiches are ready!" Ron looked over and smiled. He lumbered over and grabbed one of the sandwiches and began to chow down on the meal. Within 15 minutes, Harry and Ron had cleaned off the plate and were finishing a glass of water to wash the meal down.

"Thanks Mipsy!" said Ron as he and Harry exited the kitchens. "Can we do anything to repay you?"

"Eat in the great hall!" yelled back Mipsy as she took the plate and headed deeper into the kitchen. Harry and Ron shrugged at each other and left to go to the library. When they got to the library, Harry and Ron saw there were only fifth years and above currently in the library. Harry and Ron walked up to Madam Pince.

"Excuse me?" Madam Pince turned from her desk where she was reading a book to look at the two first-years standing in front of her.

"Yes? How can I be of assistance?"

"Well, Ron and I were wondering if there were any group study rooms in the library? Some of our friends want to study with us, but we are all in different houses and we don't want to disturb people in the library." Madam Pince looked at the two Hufflepuffs with a piercing gaze, making the two very anxious and look anywhere but her eyes.

"Very well. We do have a large study room that students can use, although it is not frequent. About how many people do you expect to show up?" Harry began to mentally count who would show up: Ernie, Justin, Hannah, Susan, Daphne, Ron, and himself. Harry also threw in a few other people as he was sure that someone in another one of the houses would find a way to join.

"Around nine or ten people or so."

"And at what time?"

"Right after dinner is over."

"I'll have the room ready for you by dinner then. Just come up and ask me for your room when you come back to the library."

"Thank you Madam Pince."

"Uh-huh. Now scram."

"Should we head back to the Great Hall or read?" asked Harry.

"Well, I vote for the food. Why would I want to stay?"

"So we can either start learning the runes from the book Charlie gave us or do the homework that you and I both know we can finish within ten minutes." Ron glared at Harry before relenting.

"Damn it, Harry. You're supposed to also agree to go get food. There's no way those two sandwiches did it for you!"

"No, but this way I'll stay awake. If I eat a heavy meal for lunch, I'm more likely to fall asleep and that is not a good thing if I'm going to have potions after lunch." Begrudgingly, Ron agreed with Harry's decision.

"Fine, damnit. Let's study some bloody runes." Harry and Ron sat down at the table and pulled out the runes textbook from their bags and began to look at the different runes that were depicted in the first pages. "Since this was your idea, how do you reckon we go about learning these?"

"Probably practice drawing each rune, and memorizing what the rune represents?" responded Harry, half-confident, half-questioning.

"Are you sure?" asked Ron as he brought out some parchment to start copying down some of the runes. "I mean, we only know this semester's curriculum. We don't have anything from after the winter break down pat."

"…well for now, we're just learning the structure of the basic runes. We're not going to be able to implement any of these in actual situations for years. It's like building the foundation. If we have a strong base, then once we get to understanding the meaning behind each symbol, we won't have to learn how to draw them. We just have to understand how to connect them."

"Fine, fine. But I would have thought you have wanted to focus on things that come after the Christmas break."

"We'll start on that stuff on the weekend. Besides, I can't make you brain dead today. We have broom practice today. And I know how much you love flying."

"Thank Merlin," muttered Ron as he traced one of the runes onto the parchment, following the stroke order that the book demonstrated. "Some way to exercise that isn't doing the grueling exercises that you enjoy putting us through."

"I don't see you complaining about the results though."

"Doesn't mean I have to like how we got them."

"Again, not complaining about the results."

"Whatever. At least I can more now that I exercise. Who are we paired with broom practice?"

"Guess," answered Harry as he examined the rune he had drawn, comparing it with the one in the book, trying to find any discrepancies between the two.

"Slytherin?"

"Yep."

"Eh? Well looks like we have to look forward to Draco Malfoy lording it over that he is a better flyer all class." Harry stared at Ron.

"Really? He's that bad? I mean he was a prat on the train, but he can't be that bad all the time…can he?" asked Harry, looking over at Ron.

"Well, my dad has never had anything nice to say about his family."

"Well, I'm certainly going to steer clear of him if at all possible," muttered Harry. "Hey, does this look good to you? I can't see any differences when I'm comparing the rune to the one in the book." Ron leaned over to look at Harry's parchment.

"Uh, everything looks good to me except that line at the bottom. It looks a little off to me. But that's just my opinion."

"All right. Thanks. I'm going to redo the entire thing."

"Yeah, I will as well after I finish this attempt." Harry and Ron continued to work on their runes for a good ten more minutes before Harry looked at the clock that was hanging in the air.

"Ron, we had better get going. Our next class is in 10 minutes, and I do not fancy being late to class, especially when that teacher is Snape. And after all the horror stories that you have heard from your brothers…"

"Yeah, let's get going." The two boys shoved their textbooks back into their bags and started to make their way towards the potions classroom. Using their map, Ron and Harry traversed the castle, though they did end up on the wrong floor on their first try due to the moving stairs. When the two boys finally made it to the classroom, only the Gryffindors were already there. Harry and Ron once again took seats together, their cauldrons already set up at their workstations. At each black table were two seats. At each upper corner were two runes inscribed into the table, one green and one red. In the middle of the table were two muggle-like gas burner stoves.

When the other Hufflepuffs arrived, Harry just flashed the peace symbol and grinned. The other Hufflepuffs including Gabriel were flabbergasted that they had arrived before any of them. Again, Hannah and Susan sat together while Ernie and Justin paired up again.

"How did you two get there before us?" asked Ernie as he took out his textbook and opening it up to page 5, where the first potion was listed.

"The map, duh. We were in the library during the lunch period, although we did get lost once when the staircase put us on the wrong floor. We had to ask one of the ghosts for directions," replied Ron.

"Did you eat anything?"

"Two sandwiches. Ham, cheese, and mayonnaise. Delicious," replied Ron. "But since we ate a small lunch, that means I can pig out at dinner time." Ron smiled contentedly as he imagined all the food that would be available to eat in the great hall that evening.

"…you really have a one-track mind about food, don't you?" asked Ernie.

"And don't you forget it. Anything food-related and I'm your guy. Need extra snacks? I got you. Want to know where the kitchen is? It'll cost you extra, but I got you. Need some muggle food imported into the castle? I know a guy."

"What are you? A muggle salesman?" asked Justin.

"What's a salesman?" asked Susan as she tried to follow the conversation.

"Never mind. Purebloods," muttered Justin. Justin was about to say something else before Snape stormed into the classroom, his black cloak billowing and surrounding him like a shadow.

"Welcome to potions," whispered Snape, but everyone could hear his words. Snape took roll call, pausing when he got to Harry's name. "Ah, Mr. Potter, our newest celebrity. Let me officially welcome you to the wizarding world." Snape finished taking attendance for the rest of the class, before putting his clipboard down and started walking through the classroom, speaking as he did so. "There will be no wand-waving or incantations in this class. Instead I will teach you the subtle art of potion making. For those who possess the pre-disposition, I can teach you to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses; I can tell you how to brew glory, bottle fame, and even put a stopper on death. Now a few questions before we begin. Ms. Kachmer."

"Yes?" Ria sat up straight as she paid apt attention.

"Where would I find a bezor?"

"Uh…in the cupboard?"

"Tsk, tsk. How about you, Mr. Finch-Fletchley?"

"That would be in the stomach of the goat."

"Mr. Longbottom, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Harry watched as the pudgy boy from the train wrinkled his eyebrows in concentration.

"Um…I t-think that they are the same plant, sir?"

"In this instance, you are correct. And Mr. Potter, what would you get if you put asphodel and wormwood together?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to think about what those two ingredients had created. He remembered reviewing that exact question last night.

"I believe it is a very powerful sleeping draught. I am sorry sir, but I do not remember the exact name, but I believe death was prevalent in the name."

"Acceptable answer. The name of the potion is Draught of Living Death, the most powerful sleeping potion created thus far. 5 points to both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Now, today you will be brewing boils cure potion. You will find the recipe on page 5 of your textbooks. Gryffindors go retrieve your ingredients, Hufflepuffs grab any equipment you might need. Once you have done so, switch. After you get back to your desks, I want you to read each step carefully before executing any steps. I expect there to be no incidents. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir," chorused the class.

"Now, before we begin, I want to make sure that all of you know how to use the burners." Snape stalked to the front of the room where a table similar to each desk sat. "Now, so you all do not have to light the flames yourselves, we will be using rune powered stovetops. The green button will start the flame, which will instantly heat your cauldron to the desired temperature. All you have to do is think about your desired temperature. If you need to adjust the temperature during the brewing process, tap the green rune and think about the new temperature. The red rune will turn the heat completely off. Any questions?" Susan raised her hand.

"Yes, Ms. Bones?"

"In today's recipe, one of the steps is to take the cauldron off the heat. Is it better to take the cauldron itself off the heat or to press the red rune?"

"It is better to take the cauldron off the stovetop itself rather than kill the heat as there will still be some residual heat. Anyone else? No, then get to work. If you are confused, don't be an idiot. Ask. While you are waiting for your potion during the 40 minute brewing period, you are allowed to do some self-study or work on homework from other classes. But make sure you are periodically checking your potion. I do not want any mishaps."

Harry walked over the drawer labelled supplies and he made sure that he had all the correct instruments: a measuring spoon, a stirring utensil, and a mortar and pestle. He also made sure to get the same utensils for Ron as well. Meanwhile, Ron went ahead and got all the ingredients necessary for the potion that they would be brewing.

Once Ron had returned, Harry made sure that he read over each step carefully. First, he took 6 of the snake fangs and placed them into his mortar. He carefully started to grind the fangs into a very fine powder. Harry pressed down with his pestle, using the blunt object to crush the fragile fangs into pieces. With each mash, the fangs slowly began to break down until, they were little more than a very fine powder. Harry grabbed his measuring spoon and spooned four spoonfuls into the cauldron. Harry then pressed the green rune while thinking '250 degrees' and lit the stove top.

Harry then placed his cauldron and counted to ten in his head before waving his wand over the potion. Harry raised his hand and Snape walked over to Harry.

"Yes, Mr. Potter? What is it that you want?"

"Sir, I am at the step where I have to wait for 35 minutes, but I have no way of using a timer as I don't have a watch and I don't see a clock in here."

"Do you not know the timer spell?"

"No."

"Just say the word tempus and think of how long a timer you want. The spell will take care of the rest."

"Thank you, sir." Snape grunted as he walked back down to his desk. "Tempus," muttered Harry, setting a timer as an ethereal timer appeared above Harry's cauldron displaying the number 45. Harry turned his attention from the cauldron to the rest of his ingredients. Harry went over and grabbed two cups and placed four horned slugs in one cup and two porcupine quills in another. After making sure that all of his materials were prepped for when the timer went off, Harry dug into his school bag and pulled out his charms textbook.

"Psst... Harry." Harry looked over to Ron who had finished up the first part of the potion was now on the brewing step.

"Yeah?" whispered Harry.

"Isn't Snape supposed to be mean to everyone except his Slytherins? Why is he being nice to us?"

"I have no idea! If he were going to be nice to anyone, I thought it would be to the Ravenclaws. I thought Hufflepuffs were seen as the bottom of the barrel in Hogwarts' house popularity."

"Based off of what Fred and George said, that's what I thought as well. I'm just as clueless as you are."

"Well I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth." Ron looked at Harry in confusion like he had sprouted another head.

"Why would your gift be in a horse's mouth?"

"It's an expression. Basically, if there is a favorable situation, I'm not going to complain about it."

"Oh! Okay, yeah. Are you reviewing where we left off for the charms?"

"Yep. I'm on the softening charm. Can't really practice it in here, but I can review the theory for it."

"Does it seem to be easier or harder to do than the smokescreen spell?" asked Ron as he dug into his bag for his own charms textbook.

"I think it should be a little bit easier since we're not creating a bunch of smoke. But I couldn't exactly tell you until I actually try out the spell," replied Harry as he checked on the contents of his cauldron.

"Makes sense," shrugged Ron. "Hey, what do you think you're going to write for why the match transformation spell is useful in the real life? Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single place where it would have a real-life application."

"Well, I would say that it does have an application, just not in the way you are thinking. Yes, there are no applications of specifically turning a match into a needle, but that isn't the point. It's to use the concept of turning one object into a similar, but completely different object. For example, if you were to take a sword and transfigure it into a wooden stick, the sword would become next to useless."

"So it's not exactly the act of actually turning a match into a needle that is the point of the spell, but the idea of transforming one object into another object that is a similar shape, but completely different int purpose?"

"Yes!" replied Harry as he checked the timer, which read 20 minutes, and the contents of his cauldron. Harry and Ron ceased talking as they took out parchment to do the homework from charms while periodically double checking their cauldron. Around the classroom, all the Hufflepuff and Gryffindors were doing something similar, with the sound of quills of scratching parchment, with periodical checks on their cauldrons.

Around the five minute mark, Harry put away all of his parchment and textbooks, save his potions textbook. Harry grabbed the bowl of horned slugs and waited until the timer went off. As soon as the timer went off, Harry dumped the horned slugs into the cauldron before immediately taking the cauldron off the fire.

"_Harry, that pudgy boy is about to add the quills before taking it off the fire!_" Harry widened at Hedwig's announcement and saw Neville about to drop the quills into the cauldron. Acting quickly, Harry pointed his wand at Neville.

"Windgardium Leviosa." Harry levitated Neville's cauldron off of the fire and back onto the table just moments before the quills fell into the cauldron.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor!" Neville looked up to see Snape glaring down at him. "You idiot boy! I told you to read the instructions before you do any of the steps! And the most important step was to remove your cauldron from the fire before adding the porcupine quills! Something which you couldn't even do. It took Mr. Potter levitating your cauldron off the fire to save you from getting a nasty case of the boils! You will get half off for your final product. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. And Mr. Potter?"

"Yes sir?"

"I don't want to see you ever do that again in this classroom. There will be no spells that aren't used for the potions. Let him make a mistake next time. It will teach him to reach the instructions." Harry nodded. "Good. 5 points to Hufflepuff." Snape stalked back down to his desk.

Harry carefully took his cauldron off the fire and added two porcupine quills to his cauldron before grabbing his stirrer and stirring the mixture five times in a clockwise direction. Harry waved his wand, finishing off the potion.

Harry went over and grabbed four vials, one for himself, Ron, Susan, and Hannah. His friends all nodded in thanks when he set the vial down for them on their desk. Harry ladled a portion of his finished product into the vial and corked it. Harry labeled his vial with his name and the potion that was in it before walking up to the front of the classroom and placing it in the vial stand.

"Clean up your workspace Mr. Potter. Put your cauldron back in the cupboard after I vanish the rest of your potion." Harry nodded as he went back and took his utensils and rinsed them before putting them back to where it should be. When Harry returned to his desk, Snape had already vanished his potion and Ron was gathering up his utensils to begin cleaning. Harry grabbed his pewter cauldron and placed it back into the cupboard, watching it disappear until it would be used again in the next class.

"Sir, I have cleaned up. Is there anything else that I should be doing?"

"No. Anyone who has finished cleaning up their station and handed in their potion is free to go. For homework, you are to write 1 foot of parchment on the uses of cure boil, why porcupine quills should be added after the cauldron is taken off the fire, and an overview of the next potion, which will be found on page 7 of your textbooks. Now the rest of you have five minutes to hand in your potions or you will be given a failing grade for the day." The majority of the Gryffindors with the exception of Hermione and Ria rushed to finish their potions and clean up their station.

The Hufflepuffs all exited the room to see Gabriel waiting there, ready to lead them to their final class before flying lessons.

**A/N** So, I completely didn't get this out before the new year or even the first weekend after the new year. Or this past weekend. I kind of lost all the chapters that I had written all the way up the chapter 8 right before Christmas. So, I've been trying to rewrite them. Since I no longer have future chapters, updates will definitely be more sporadic that what I had planned. I'm going to try to have a chapter a month, but no promises. Please let me know what you think about the class scenes, especially the potions one. This was definitely not my best work.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Before you guys read the chapter, I should let you know that I changed Daphne's house from Ravenclaw back to Slytherin. Since I lost a lot of the work I had done, I redid some of my plans, and that means she needs to be back in Slytherin. Enjoy.**

Chapter 6

Harry stretched his arms out as he and Ron exited the Herbology classroom and headed back to the common to change for broom practice, walking right past Gabriel, who was waiting for them.

"Okay, am I allowed to already say that I do not like Herbology? I'd rather be back in Potions than in that classroom."

"It wasn't that bad," admonished Susan, coming up to join the two boys with Hannah.

"I hate anything to do with plants," grumbled Harry.

"You're being overdramatic, Harry."

"No Hannah, I'm not being dramatic enough! I don't like working with plants. I had enough of that when I was living with my relatives. It was the worst." Harry emphasized this with extreme hand gestures

"Harry, calm down, you can't know that you hate the subject after one class. Give it a week and then you can say that you hate it and I will give you a whole hour to complain about it," responded Ron. "Wow, I can't believe I just said that."

"Why?" asked Harry as he slumped over in disappointment that everyone was reprimanding him. Ron raised his eyebrow at him.

"A month ago, I would have been too lazy to do any work on my own. Now I'm telling you to give a class a chance before hating it. If it hadn't been for that month we spent together, I would be right there with you on hating the class."

"Come on Ron, you couldn't have been that bad," said Hannah as she looked at the ginger-haired boy.

"Oh, I was bad. I was lazy to the point that I didn't care about anything unless it involved chess or quidditch," replied Ron as they got to the barrels. Ron tapped the password on the barrel and then climbed in before walking through the passageway to the door of the common room. "We'll see you down here in 5."

"Yep," replied Susan as she and Hannah headed up the stairs to go change for broom practice. Harry and Ron headed up to their room and opened their trunks to change their clothes. First, they took off their robes and placed it on their beds. Next, they undid their ties, and threw their dress shirts and pants into the dirty laundry. After he had taken off his shirt, Harry let Hedwig slither off of him and onto the bed.

"_I'll stay here while you go to broom practice. I don't think I want to be up in the air."_

"Alright, have fun then!"

Harry and Ron then put on some loose pants, and t-shirts. The two then pulled on yellow and black sweaters before finally putting their robes back on and heading down the stairs to meet up with Susan and Hannah. On their way down, they passed Ernie, Justin, and Zacharias.

"See you two in front of the castle." Harry and Ron nodded as they continued down to the common room. Seeing as Susan and Hannah weren't down yet, Harry just sat down in one of the chairs and waited for the girls to come down.

"Alright we're ready!" Harry turned to see Hannah and Susan come down dressed in similar clothes to what he and Ron were wearing.

"Let's go then!" Harry and Ron walked out of the common room with Susan and Hannah following closely behind. After they exited the barrel, the group started talking about Quidditch.

"So, Harry doesn't have a favorite quidditch team yet, despite having known about the sport for a month?" asked Susan. Harry nodded. Susan turned to Ron.

"How did you not convince him to support your team?"

"Cause he had me working with him to learn half of every single subject except Herbology and Potions. I didn't really have time to force a Quidditch team on him. And if you're trying to get him to like your team, don't bother. I already have to contend with Daphne and her Tushstill Tornadoes!"

"Wait," asked Hannah. "Daphne is a Tornadoes supporter?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, that's brilliant. If he chooses them, then both Daphne and I win," crowed Hannah. "Tough luck Susie, looks like I already have one up on you!"

"Oh no you don't Hannah! Harry is going to be converted to Puddlemere United!" Harry stared at his three friends in shock as they argued over who he would support.

"Why would he go to your Puddlemere?" asked Ron in derision.

"Please, we have Benjy Williams. Besides, it's not like the Cannons have anyone good. You guys are where old players go to get one last paycheck, not to play for a top league spot."

"Oi, we have Galvin Gudgeon!"

"Who hit his prime when we were toddlers! Face it, Ron. The Cannons aren't a desirable spot for any Quidditch player." Ron growled at Hannah's statement and turned to Harry.

"You support me, right Harry?"

"Harry doesn't have an opinion! He needs to watch one game of each team before making a decision!"

"And when are we going to have time to do that?" asked Ron. "It's not like we can just tell Sprout, 'hey professor, we're going to three quidditch matches so Harry can decide who he likes'. We'd just get laughed at and told no!"

"Then we go during winter break and summer break," replied Susan dismissively.

"So, we have to wait until at least next year before he decides?"

"Yep." Ron narrowed his eyes.

"Fine. But I propose a bet. Whoever's team Harry decides to support will get a jersey for him or her and Harry paid for by the other three."

"Three?" asked Susan.

"We're including Daphne. We'll tell her at the study session tonight."

"Deal."

"Do I get a say in this?" asked Harry, feeling very left out of the conversation.

"Nope," said Ron. "You may get to make decisions about studying and learning, but I get full control over your wizarding immersion, and this is an important part of your immersion." Harry rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Fine. But you guys are paying for the tickets." Ron froze.

"Oh, I'm going to need to find a way to pay for the cannon tickets. Wait, I'm getting paid by you for helping with studying still, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Sweet! I'll use that money to pay for our tickets. I got it all covered!" crowed Ron as he grinned happily. Any further conversation was cut off as they arrived at the field where Madam Hooch was waiting with all the Slytherins already there, though they were still in their formal attire.

"I'm glad to see at least the Hufflepuffs thought ahead and decided to change into easy to move clothing. Find a broom and stand to the left of it. We'll give your classmates a few more minutes before we start." Harry went over and stood next to Daphne.

"Hey Daphne."

"Harry. Are you ready to help me with my learning at 7 tonight after dinner?"

"Yes, yes. I'll see you at the library at 7. But we'll have Susan, Hannah, Justin, and Ernie joining us as well." Daphne shrugged.

"That's fine with me." It didn't take long for the remaining Hufflepuffs to come down to the field. Madam Hooch walked down the line of students as she talked.

"Welcome to Flight class. I am Madam Hooch, your flying instructor. In this class, you will all be learning how to summon broom, how to take off, how stay in the air in a safe fashion, and how to land. Today's lesson will be summoning your broom from the ground and taking off safely. Stick your right hand over your broom and in a firm voice say 'up'. Got it?"

"Yes, Madam Hooch."

"Good. Get to it." Harry extended his right arm over the broom besides him and in a commanding voice said, "Up!" The broom reacted immediately, jumping up into the air and into his hands. Harry grinned at the fact that he had been able to do that correctly.

Harry looked around and saw that only a few of his classmates had been able to do it on their first try as well. Terry Boot was smirking at Crabbe and Goyle, who was struggling to summon his broom into his hand. Wayne's broom was just rolling around. Harry snickered at Ron who had been hit in the forehead by his broom's handle before it went back onto the ground. Ron glared at Harry before trying again.

Daphne too was having trouble. When she said 'up', instead of going right into her hand, it went up a few feet off the ground, but wouldn't go right into her hand.

"Up!" growled Daphne as she glared down at the floating broom. The broom went up another few inches, but not high enough to be in her hand. Daphne took a deep breath before letting out a more pronounced and focused attempt. "Up." The curt command was said with all the intent that she could muster, similar to how she had pictured the feather floating in Charms class earlier in the day. Almost immediately, the broom shot up into her hand.

"Finally," snickered Harry as he watched Daphne struggle with her broom. "Only took you three tries."

"Shut up, Harry. Not all of us get the easy path." Harry shrugged as he held his broom. Madam Hooch walked down the line again as she started give out her next set of instructions.

"Good. Now that you have summoned your brooms to hand, you will mount your brooms. But do not push off." Madam Hooch mounted her broom and floated into the sky as the entire class mounted their brooms. "Now, I want you all the gently push off. And only float a few feet off the ground."

Harry, having already placed his broom in between his legs gently pushed with his right foot. Harry slowly floated up into the sky, though he struggled not to go much higher than a few feet. Around him, Harry noticed his classmates also having the same problem. Justin was about level with Madam Hooch and had to be forcefully lowered by her. Hannah had somehow found herself underneath Susan. Meanwhile, Ron was somewhat shaky, but still floating with a bit of confidence. Harry shook his head as he watched the disaster that was bound to happen.

Harry turned his head to see Daphne floating in the air with grace and practiced ease. Harry raised his eyebrow ins shock.

"Don't look at me like that," said Daphne. "Just cause I couldn't easily summon my broom doesn't mean I've never ridden one. I could probably outfly most of the people here except maybe Madam Hooch."

"Wow, you sure are confident."

"I'm a Greengrass. It's expected of me to do well in everything. And fortunately, that includes flying."

"If you are so good at everything, why do you need my help to start learning our first year material?" asked Harry as he watched Madam Hooch rush around to make sure that there were no accidents.

"Because you already have learned it and I want to get ahead of the curve, just like you and Ron are doing."

"You do know that Ron would be totally okay not getting ahead of the curve, right? He is doing it because I pay him to study ahead with me. He'd be just fine learning it at a normal pace and playing chess all day."

"…you're paying him to study ahead with you? Why?" asked Daphne, incredulous. Her respect for both Harry and Ron dropping a little.

"Hey, I get a great deal. He learns a lot, I get a study buddy, and my happenstance, we became good friends. I even got to meet his older brother, Charlie." Daphne was about to respond when they heard Madam Hooch yell at them.

"Greengrass! Potter! Get down here!" yelled Madam Hooch, who had noticed that Daphne and Harry were floating in a controlled about 10 feet off the ground. Obliging, the two floated down. Harry wobbled as he tried to make sure that he didn't land too fast and hurt himself. Daphne, on the other hand, gracefully landed before dismounting. "Wonderful job, Mr. Potter, Ms. Greengrass. 20 points to Slytherin and 10 points to Hufflepuff."

"Mate, why are you so god damned good at everything?" asked Ron when Harry landed.

"Daphne was better than me though! And you were doing just as well as I was!" protested Harry.

"Yeah, but that was your first time on your broom. I've ridden a broom quite a few times. No one should be that good at everything!"

"Herbology."

"Oh and what about charms and transfiguration? And don't try the 'we studied our butts off' excuse. I was there with you and you picked those two subjects up like a fish in water."

"Uh…I have no idea?" asked Harry as he backed away from Ron's incessant questioning.

"Honestly Harry. Your ability to learn everything super easily without struggling all that much is enough to make me green with envy. If I cared more about academics, I'd be so envious of you."

"Wait, you're not? I thought that was the whole point of this stupid conversation."

"Nah, it's just me being an idiot and incredulous of your freaking ability to learn things on the fly. That's what I'm jealous of."

"…of course that's what you'd be jealous of. Not the fact that I can pick up magic more easily than normal, but because I can fly like it's second nature despite this being my first time on a broom," deadpanned Harry as he looked at his friend with an exasperated look, rolling his eyes.

"What? I haven't changed that much that I am no longer obsessed with quidditch. And to be good at quidditch, you have to be good at flying." Harry just smiled at his friend as he listened to the next set of instructions from Madam Hooch.

"Alright you lot, since the majority of you have demonstrated that you are at least able to take off and land, you are free to fly around at a slow pace around the field. If I see anyone going fast, you will be taken out of the air and in detention faster than you can say 'Hogwarts'. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Madam Hooch!"

"Good. Enjoy yourselves but meet me back here in 20 minutes." Lazily, Harry and Ron kicked off again, floating through the air so as not to incur the wrath of Madam Hooch. Soon enough, the class was over, and Harry returned to the ground to return the broom to Madam Hooch. After landing, all the first years took their brooms to the nearby shed.

"Do you guys still want to meet at the library after dinner?" asked Harry as he, Daphne, Ron, Susan, and Hannah walked back up to the castle.

"Yeah," replied Daphne. "Do you mind if I bring one of my classmates, Tracey Davis? She and I were discussing transfiguration during lunch and I mentioned how you agreed to help me and now she wants in as well. Sorry about inviting someone without asking."

"That's fine," said Harry, brushing Daphne's concerns off. "I'll you at the library around dinner. I'm going to back to the common room to change out of these clothes and maybe do some studying. I don't really don't want to do the homework."

"Why?"

"Cause I already know most of it. I could do it easily, but the action of having to write it all down when I know all the material reasonably well is a pain in the ass."

"So," said Susan from behind Harry, spooking the boy-who-lived, "You're being lazy."

"Jeez, Susan, how long have you been right behind me?"

"Since we left the field."

"Whatever. Yes, I guess I am being lazy, but only because I already learned all this stuff! I just don't want to write the freaking homework."

"Just do it, you big baby," grumbled Ron. "If I have to do it, then you have to do it, Mr. I want to learn everything." Harry pouted at Ron.

"You don't have to throw my love for learning right in my face," moaned Harry.

"Well, this is where we split," said Daphne as they reached the entranced to the great hall. The Slytherin dungeon is in the opposite direction of where the Hufflepuff common room is rumored to be located. Any chance I can know?"

"Not before hedgehogs can fly without magic," called Harry over his shoulder as he waved bye to Daphne and headed in the opposite direction. Harry and his friends entered their common room through the barrels and they all headed up to their respective rooms to change.

Harry grabbed his charms, herbology, and transfiguration textbooks and brought them down to the common room where Susan and Hannah had already taken a table and spread out their textbooks and taken out a piece of parchment, ink, and a quill to start their homework.

"You two already starting?" asked Harry as he and Ron pulled a chair over to their table and set up their work space.

"Yeah, we're starting with charms. How would you utilize the levitation charm?"

"Oh, that's an easy one. First, there's how I used it in potions, where I got Neville's cauldron off of his stove before the quills entered the potion, preventing an explosion in the potion's lab, but that is one that wouldn't be a very common usage as there are probably better spells that could raise the potion off the fire much more quickly and easier. The next purpose I can think of is to carry objects that you don't have the strength to lift. This would be especially useful for people who are recovering from a severe illness and don't have the strength to pick anything up or the elderly, who again, have no strength left in their bodies."

"Okay, but that is for in the home and in a classic retail job. But how would you use it if you were an auror?" asked Susan.

"A what now?" asked Harry.

"Magic police, Harry," said Ron as he wrote his own ideas on his parchment.

"Oh, well for the aurors, I'm not exactly sure how they would use it. Maybe levitating a body, but again, there's probably a better spell for that. The other use I could think of is if they are levitating a fellow auror up to or down from a high perch and they have no access to others of getting up there like a broom or that instantaneous teleporation. What was it called, apporition?"

"Apparition," corrected Susan.

"Yeah, that. And I guess it could also be used to carry a bunch of different items at once as well from crime scenes and whatnot. What were you thinking it could be used for?" asked Harry as he began to write down his answers.

"Well I was thinking along the same lines for you in terms of the spell being helpful when it came to manual labor. But I was also thinking it could be especially useful when handling potions ingredients that can't be touched by human skin due to the fact that our skin could contaminate the ingredient."

"There are ingredients like that?" asked Harry in surprise.

"Yeah. I think the best example is a Harpy's feather. It is so easy for them to get contaminated from human touch. And my other idea is that it can be used to levitate physical objects to block spells. Let's say someone is sending a lethal spell at you, but is not one that will cause the object to explode. You could levitate an object in front of you to block spell instead of dodging."

"So, if it was a knock-back spell, you could use a rock to block it instead of actually dodging?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, that's the idea. My aunt mentioned she used to do that when she was an active auror before she took her job as Director of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Hmm, well then wouldn't mean if you can identify each spell based on its color, and you could make that split-second decision, you would be able to determine whether you even needed to dodge and use a physical shield instead rather than an actual shield spell?" asked Harry.

"I guess. But no one could accurately identify each spell. Some spells don't have a color, like silencio. And many spells have similar colors. The stunning spell is known to be red and it's not like it's the only spell that creates red."

"Okay, so maybe knowing what most spells look like to make that split decision isn't possible, but known the major incendiary spells wouldn't be as hard, right?"

"Maybe. I wouldn't know since I've never seen any of those spells performed. That's something that we would have to look up," replied Susan.

"Uh, guys?" Susan and Harry turned to Hannah. "You're getting a little off topic. Aren't we supposed to be working on our homework so we don't have any to do later and we can just focus on learning new material and reinforcing what we learned today. If not, we'll have to do our actual homework after Harry's teaching session."

"Alright," grumbled Harry. "but that dueling conversation was just starting to get interesting."

"_Harry!_" Harry looked down to see Hedwig had slithered all the way down from his dorm room. Harry reached down to pick up his pet snake and let her slither up and around his arm.

"Hi Hedwig, what's up?"

"_I'm bored. What are you doing?_"

"Going over homework," replied Harry, oblivious to Susan and Hannah staring at him like he had grown a second head. Ron wasn't paying attention.

"Harry, can you understand her?" asked Susan slowly.

"Yeah."

"You speak parsletongue?"

"Mhm."

"Has Ron not told you the connotations associated with a wizard or witch that speaks that language?"

"Hey, I told him! He's just an idiot. Has no sense for reading the room. He probably thought you two would be totally okay with it since you readily volunteered to help him with the book problem last night and the fact that the common room is completely empty," replied Ron, not taking his eyes off his parchment.

"Hey! I'm not that bad…though you aren't wrong?"

"Of course I'm not. I know you better than these two. What was McGonagall's homework?"

"Uh…how to use the needle-changing spell in the real world," replied Harry as he reached into his bag to grab his transfiguration textbook and another piece of parchment seeing as how he had finished his charms homework. "So what do you want me to do about you being bored, Hedwig?"

"_Can you let me out it into the grass?_"

"Couldn't you get Minunn to take you down?"

"_Stupid bird won't even listen to me. Just flew out the window earlier this morning and hasn't been back since._"

"I'll take out to the fields after I finish my homework. And if we're not done by dinner time, I'll stop outside before heading to dinner. We're going to have to figure a way for you to do this without my assistance."

"_Get the bloody bird to help and it wouldn't be a problem_," hissed Hedwig before disappearing under Harry's clothes.

"I get the feeling that she was bored," grinned Ron.

"Yep. And Minunn apparently was being a jerk and left her in the room without taking her with him when he decided to go flying. Pretty sure he's staying with the owls tonight seeing as how Hedwig said that he hadn't returned yet."

"Oh, I bet she loved that."

"Totally."

|2 hours later|

Harry stretched as he put down his quill and stood up. Finishing up the charms and transfiguration homework wasn't that hard. Harry was already pretty well versed in both subjects. Potions was also easy enough.

It just took a little bit of reading the textbook for Harry to write an overview of the next potion and understand what the porcupine quills did to the other ingredients that caused it to explode while being exposed to heat. And coming up with uses was incredibly easy. It was herbology that gave Harry the most trouble. All the while Ron was laughing at him that he was struggling with the subject related to plants.

"This is so hilarious," laughed Ron as Harry frowned at his friend. "The one subject that you struggle with is one of the easiest! This is pure gold."

"Herbology isn't that easy Ron," growled Harry.

"Yes it is, Harry," said Susan. She then pointed to all the other Hufflepuffs who had since come to the common room, with all of them nodding their heads that it was indeed their easiest subject.

"I hate you all."

"Cheer up, Harry. At least now we know you are human. You are terrible at something!"

"…is that something to cheer up about?" asked Harry in confusion.

"It is when so far you are good at Charms, Trans, and flying. So far you're just so-so at potions. And we'll see how DADA goes."

"Whatever," grumbled Harry. "Can we go to dinner now? Plus, I need to let Hedwig out."

"Sure," replied a humored Susan as she packed her bag. Harry did the same, throwing his textbooks and parchment into his bottomless shoulder bag. Harry went up to his room to see Minunn pruning on Harry's bed.

"Minunn, can you take Hedwig out and bring her back?" asked Harry, looking at his raven. Minunn just cocked his head and stared at Harry before extending one of his claws.

"_He better not drop me and kill me_," grumbled Hedwig as she slithered out from under Harry's clothes and into the snug grip of Minunn's claws. Cawing, the raven flew out through the open window to let Hedwig roam for a little bit. Harry grinned as he came down the steps.

"Good news! I don't have to worry about Hedwig now. I got Minunn to take her out. Now we can just go to the library after dinner." The four friends headed down to the great hall, not having many problems as they were more familiar with the layout of Hogwarts than they had been that morning. That being said, they were forced to consult the map a few times when they accidentally got moved to the wrong floor when a staircase moved.

|Great Hall|

"Harry, Ron, Susan, Hannah!" Harry grinned when he saw Justin and Ernie had saved a seat for all of them. The four friends took a seat next to Justin and Ernie and began serving themselves some food. Harry grabbed a leg of roast chicken, some asparagus, and mashed potatoes. He then poured himself some water.

"How's your guys evening been?" asked Harry as he dug into his meal.

"Pretty good. Ventured into the library to get some of the homework done. This way, we wouldn't have to do anything after the study session we're having this evening."

"Which, by the way is a terrible idea," grumbled Harry, "I have no idea why we are having. It's only the first day. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be teaching all of you."

"I'm sure Daphne has some idea though," countered Ron. "It was her idea in the first place."

"Why does this sound like I'm just going to be showing everyone how to do the spells that we learned over the summer?" asked Harry as he picked up the chicken.

"Cause, it probably will be," replied Ron with a face-splitting grin. "You get to do the whole charms, trans, and DADA textbooks all over again, while somehow finding time to teach yourself the new spells from where we stopped after the summer."

"Why are you smiling? You're helping me." Ron's grin faltered and he looked at Harry in confusion.

"What?"

"Yes."

"No! I don't want to help."

"You're my best friend. This is a mandatory obligation. If I have to suffer through this, then you do as well."

"Whatever. Bloody slave driver of a friend. Makes me learn half the curriculum with him in a month. Now makes me help him teach everyone else what we already learned. Could have been lazy. Could have just minded my own business. Just had to make friends with the bloody boy-who-lived," grumbled Ron.

"Too late, Ron," said Susan as she picked stabbed some asparagus and put them in her mouth. "But look on the bright side. At least you have friends and aren't a rude Gryffindor that would have just cared about eating and flying. Cause let's face it, based off of what you have told me about yourself before coming to Hogwarts, that's exactly what you would have ended up as."

"…mean but true," conceded Ron.

"So, you guys are still having the study session?" asked Justin. "Is it still fine if Ernie and I tag along?"

"Of course," said Hannah. "Ron will be delighted to have more people to teach." Ron gave the Hannah the stink eye who only eye-smiled at her friend.

"What is this about a study group?" Harry turned to see Cedric standing behind him.

"Uh, for some reason, these idiots think that I can teach," replied Harry, pointing at his group of friends, who just waved at Cedric.

"Well, if you all ever need any help, don't hesitate to ask one of the upper years. Most of us would be more than happy to help you with studying for your classes. But it's the first day, you shouldn't be having that much work…"

"Exactly!" yelled Harry. "Yet these buffoons want me to teach them."

"Actually," commented Susan, "We didn't originally ask you. That was Daphne. And it's your fault for showing off and having multiple objects rotate around you this morning at breakfast. You shouldn't have drawn so much attention to yourself."

"But-"

"No buts Harry," interrupted a grinning Ernie. "Now let's hurry up and finish dinner so we can head over to the library."

"Fine," grumbled Harry. Harry looked up to see Daphne watching him from the Slytherin table and he indicated with his head that they'd be heading out of the great hall soon to go to the library soon. Daphne nodded and went back to her meal and conversation with her housemates.

"So are we just going to go over the next spells that we are going to be learning in class or we are doing anything specific?" asked Ernie.

"Um, like I said I have no idea what I'm supposed to be teaching you all. Come on, let's head to the library. I'll think of something," said Harry, standing up and grabbing his book bag after finishing his cup of water. As they walked, Harry took out his wand and began spinning it in his palm.

"You do have some idea, right?" whispered Ron as he caught up to Harry and kept pace with him.

"Mhm. I'm thinking we start them on applying the transformation spell to other objects. Transforming matches into needles is all well and good, but that is terribly useless in the real world. We'll have them transform the match into staffs or we could make them transform simple pencil cases into decorative and fancy pencil cases."

"Sounds good to me. But do you have enough pencil cases for everyone to use?"

"Uh…I could use the duplicating charm on it?"

"Do you even know how to use it?"

"No, but it was a suggestion. It doesn't seem too hard. I think I could probably do it. Barring that, we can just have everyone take turns."

"Alright, but that's not going to take a whole hour."

"Well do you have any ideas, Mr. Smartypants?"

"Your favorite spell, the disarming charm?"

"No, that one requires space to move in order to learn it. It's not as simple as sitting at a desk and practicing. You need to have space to practice on someone else. No, I think that we should something that needs a little less space. Like say, the lumos and nox charm?"

"Works for me," replied Ron.

"What are you two discussing?" asked Ernie as he caught up to the two boys.

"Figuring out what we're going to do. Cause I'm sure that Daphne doesn't have a plan of what she wants me to teach." It didn't take that long for the group to reach the library. Harry walked over to Madam Prince and asked for the study room. Madam Prince led the seven students over to the study room where there was a long table with about 12 chairs for people to sit along with a chalkboard at the front. Harry put his book bag down and immediately reached into his bag and grabbed a matchbook and distribute a match to everyone as well as putting out another two for Daphne when she arrived.

"What is this for? Are we practicing the spell from class today?" asked Ernie.

"Yes, but not quite," replied Harry as he took a match for himself. "Instead of changing it into a needle, you will be changing it into a wooden staff. Watch." Harry placed the match in his hand and focused on what he wanted the match to turn into.

"Communtocus." Harry looked at his hand as he watched the match change shape and grow. Instead of a match, in his hand was oaken staff. The wood was smooth with different hues of brown running along the staff. At the top of the staff was gnarled head.

"That spell can do that?" asked Susan in shock.

"Yes- oh, hello Daphne!" Harry looked over to the door to see Daphne, and who he assumed was her friend, Tracey Davis, enter the room.

"Harry. Why are you holding a staff? What are we learning?"

"Nothing of that sort. I mean, I'm not really a teacher, but I'm just demonstrating how you can use the spell we learned in class today in a different way than what McGongall showed us. Yes, you can use it to turn matches into needles and vice versa, but you can do so much more. You can turn a match into a staff or anything else."

"That's it?" asked Daphne.

"Try it, if you think it's so easy, Daphne," offered Harry, turning his gaze to his Slytherin friend. "It's not as easy as it seems." Daphne picked up the match and stared down at the match. Everyone in the room watched the Slytherin girl in anticipation. Daphne withdrew her wand from her bag and pointed it at the match.

"Communtocus," incanted Daphne. The match started to grow in length but stopped growing at about a 4 inches. And instead of looking like it was made out of a tree, the object just looked like a really long match.

"Easy, huh?" asked Harry. Harry placed his staff down and walked over to Daphne. "This is how you do it. Listen and feel the magic. Feel it flowing through me, the magic that exists within me. And now, communctocus." Harry waved his wand over the giant match and Daphne's eyes widened as it lengthened to about 6 feet, taking on the appearance of a worn oak tree, with rough and uneven surfaces.

"So, what was I doing wrong?" asked Daphne.

"When you used the spell, you used the same amount of magic to transform the match into a staff as you would to transform the match into a needle. With the amount of magic you used, you were lucky it grew that much. While the spell is the same, the amount of magic needed to power the spell is completely different. Think of it like the effort it takes to cook a bowl of pasta compared to the amount of work required to cook a cook." Daphne stared at Harry.

"How the bloody hell do you know all this? You barely know any of the magical pureblood customs, yet you know all this about magic. How much time did you spend on customs compared to magic?"

"A lot more on the magic," said a grinning Harry. "By the way, are you going to introduce your friend?"

"Ah, yes," said Daphne as she stepped to the side. "This is my friend, Tracey Davis. Tracey, this is Harry, Ron, Susan, Hannah, and who are you two?" asked Daphne as she got to Ernie and Justin.

"Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley," replied Ernie. "So, Harry, back to mastering the spell. Theoretically, we could transform this match into anything, right?"

"Yes, but remember the bigger and the more detailed the object you are transforming the match into, the more magic that will be required."

"Wait, I had another question. Does the amount of magic needed to perform the bigger transformation stay the same." It was here Harry adopted an questioning look.

"I'm…not exactly sure. This is just what I think, but I assume that it wouldn't. Obviously, now we have to use a lot more of our magic in order to successfully execute a bigger transformation. But I suspect, that as we grow older we won't have to use as much."

"Why?" asked Tracey.

"Um, think of it like exercise. When you first start running, you can't run a mile without being super out of breath. But as you continue running, your stamina begins to improve and soon you can run a mile much more easily. Using our magic is like that, I assume. The more you use it, the easier it is, and the less magic you would have to use for each spell."

"Oh, that makes sense," agreed Tracey. "So let's say that a big transfiguration, like what we're doing takes 15% of our magic, if we practice it, soon it would become only 10%, right?"

"Theoretically, yes. Again, I'm not sure about that, but that is my guess."

"Something to ask Professor Flitwick tomorrow," commented Hannah as she pulled out her wand and waved it at her match. Ron and Harry took out their charms textbook to start learning the softening charm. Harry levitated the staff that he had created onto the table and split into two with a quick diffindo.

"Here, you practice on this part of the wood," said Harry as he passed half of the staff over to Ron.

"Thanks. How soft do you think the first attempt will make it?" asked Ron.

"It won't be soft enough for me to hit you with this."

"Want to bet? I think it'll be soft enough that we will barely feel a thing if we smack each other on the head the wood pieces."

"A galleon?"

"A galleon," confirmed Ron, reaching into his bag to place a galleon on the table. Harry reached into his bag to also place a galleon on the table.

"Spongify," declared both boys, jabbing at their respective half of the staff. There were no visible changes to the pieces of wood, but when they felt the pieces of wood, there was a difference. Harry and Ron both put down their wands and grabbed the pieces of wood. They then smacked each other as hard as they could And unfortunately for Harry, he couldn't feel a thing.

"Take the damn money," grumbled Harry. "Of course I would bet against myself."

"You should know better than to bet against yourself," said Ron, grinning.

"What spell are you two working on?" Harry and Ron turned to Hannah who had finished turning her match into a long version of it, but was still trying to make it take on the wooden appearance of a staff.

"We, are learning the softening charm, and I just lost a galleon," grumbled Harry. "Need any help?"

"Um, yeah, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I can lengthen it to the length of a staff, but every time I've done the spell, I can seem to make the match take on the appearance of a wooden staff after it lengthens." Harry frowned.

"Hmm, try not making the match lengthen as long. That should decrease the amount of magic needed to make the spell work. If you can't get it to transform, maybe it's because you don't have the ability to draw out the amount of magic necessary just yet?"

"Is that a question?" asked Hannah.

"Kind of. I'm just theorizing on why it could have gone wrong. But I don't really know that much. I just know what I did in order to make it work."

"Okay, let me try again." Hannah undid the lengthened match and held it in her hand. Closing her eyes, Hannah concentrated solely on what she wanted the match to transform into. Hannah blocked out everything around her and focused on her magic. This time, instead of imagining doing two different actions, Hannah envisioned the match lengthening, though just a few inches short of 5 feet and transforming into an oaken wood at the same time. Hannah also focused all of her magic into the one spell. "Communtocus," intoned Hannah.

"Congratulations Hannah!" cheered Susan from beside her. Hannah opened her eyes and saw that in her hand was a fully formed staff, though not as long or as intricate as the one that Harry had made, but still it was better than the long match that she had been doing earlier.

"Yay Hannah!" cried Harry as he threw his hands up into the air. "Now, undo it and do it again. When all of you can do it consistently 5 times in a row, then we'll do an actual new spell." With that said, the six students practicing the transfiguration spell quickly threw themselves into carefully and diligently practicing the spell. Meanwhile, Harry and Ron continued to practice the softening charm.

"So, what other ways do you think we could use the spongify charm other than making something soft that it feels like foam?" asked Ron.

"Well, it could be used to make a seat more comfortable, like a hardwood chair seat becoming soft enough that it doesn't hurt when you sit in it."

"Or maybe making tough meat really tender?" Harry stared at Ron.

"I don't even know how that work. How would the softening charm make meat tender? From what we've read, it wouldn't affect the food in that way."

"But you don't that it couldn't. Just think! If we ever have a tough piece of beef or turkey, we can just use this spell to make it much more tender and that much more delicious."

"That is crazy!"

"But what if it is true?"

"Alright, let's test it out tonight," said Harry.

"How?"

"We live right next to the kitchens. We can just ask the house elves for the toughest piece of meat that they have and use the spell on it."

"Fine. A galleon?"

"A galleon," agreed Harry, shaking on it. The two nodded to themselves as they got up in order to test the spell on the seats to see if they could control how soft they could make something. At the moment, they were attempting to make the seats softer, but not to the point where they would sink into the seat. Meanwhile, the rest of the room's occupants were staring at them.

"Do they always argue like that?" asked Tracey.

"Apparently," replied Daphne. "I've only known them for a day, but that was how they argued on the train ride. They always bet on their arguments."

"Strange."

"Yeah, well Potter is strange. His hunger for knowledge of magic is insatiable. When we were on the train, he was reading about using runes in dueling. He doesn't even know a single rune!"

"Then why is he not in Ravenclaw?"

"Beats me," replied Daphne, eyeing the two Hufflepuff boys practicing the softening charm. Daphne turned her eyes back to her match and intoned the spell, creating a flawless staff. "Probably cause he's too crazy. Do you think a Ravenclaw would ever act like that?"

"Uh…yeah, no."

"Exactly." Harry and Ron continued to practice while they waited for everyone to reach the required number of attempts that Harry had put as the standard.

"Harry, we all got it." Harry and Ron turned from their attempts to use the softening charm in varying degrees of softness, and experimenting how much magic was needed for any given softness level.

"Right, then we'll move onto learning the wand-lighting and the wand-extinguishing charms. The incantations are 'lumos' and 'nox'. Now, the basic gist of the first is to create a light source at the tip of your wand. The light isn't going to be that bright, so it's more useful to be used as a flashlight than a main source of light. In order to use the wand-lighting spell, just concentrate on creating a source of light at the tip of your wand. The same with nox, except think about extinguishing the light. Ron, can you get the lights?" Ron went over to the front of the room and pressed a button, extinguishing all the torches in the room.

"We're good Harry." Harry nodded, unseen by everyone due to the dark room.

"Lumos." A bright light appeared on the tip of Harry's wand, revealing the young wizard in the darkness to his friends. "This is what the spell should like. And, nox." With a single word the light disappeared, plunging the room back into darkness. Ron pressed the button once more, lighting the torches once more, giving light back to the room.

"Alright, if that is all," said Ron, "I'm going to head back to the common room and see if I can't find someone to play chess with me. Maybe Cedric will. I'll see you all either tomorrow or in the common room. Night."

"Later Ron," murmured Harry as he took his seat. "I'll come grab you when we want do the meat experiment."

"Good."

"If that's the last spell that we're doing tonight, I'm going to head back with Ron as well," said Ernie, with Justin nodding and standing up as well.

"Okay. Daphne, since this was all your idea, you get to help plan the next session. We'll do this every other day so that Daphne and I can come up with an actual plan of what we'll go over. I just threw this together while we were walking here from dinner." Daphne nodded.

"That's fair." Daphne walked over to sit next to Harry as he pulled out his charms, transfiguration, and DADA textbooks and placed them in front of Daphne.

"Tell me what you want me to go over, what spells we should be learning, and all that stuff. I'd suggest one transfiguration, one charm, and one DADA spell. Also, we're going to need a bigger room next time."

"Why?"

"Because Ron wants to teach the disarming charm, but we can't do that if we don't have ample space. Plus, I have a feeling that this group is going to get bigger. This is the biggest study room in the library, so we're going to have to find a bigger place to study."

"I see your point. What about the teachers?"

"Do you honestly think that they would be okay with students flinging spells at each other without supervision?" asked Harry. "And if it's all the same, I don't want supervision. This is where we can practice and be free. Not for a teacher to watch us the entire time."

"Hmm, I'll ask my father if he knows for a private place for us to learn. But you could also ask the elves when you go to do your meat experiment. As the ones who clean the castle, they probably know every nook and cranny."

"Okay, I'll do that. While you come up with a list of spells I need to teach you all on Wednesday, I'm going to practice my runes."

"No need. I'll do this in the common room. I'll give you the list tomorrow morning." Harry shrugged and packed away his books into his shoulder bag. He looked over and saw Susan and Hannah finishing up their packing.

"In that case, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, night," murmured Daphne as she and Tracey packed their things and all five first-years left, with Harry pressing the button on the wall to extinguish the light in the study room.

**A/N **Wow, that was a long chapter. About 21 pages in word. Sorry that it took so long, but it was just real life. I had guests staying over for about a month, went through a session of lay offs at work, so I was pulling long nights, and I had a serious case of writer's block for this chapter. I went through a few drafts, and I deleted the entire thing about two or three times. I'll try to have the next chapter up by mid to late March. Thanks!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Harry and Ron were panting as they entered the common room at around 7:30 AM only to see Susan and Hannah sitting at one of the larger tables on the left side of the common room. Around them were multiple textbooks and a few pages of parchment. Also sitting at the table was Megan Jones.

"Well, look at what the cat dragged in," said Susan, looking at the sweat drenched bodies of Harry and Ron. Both Harry and Ron were dressed in yellow long

"Says the girl who is being taught by both of us," countered Ron. Susan shrugged as Harry pulled up a chair to look at what Susan and Hannah were working on.

"Are you just working on what we were doing last night?" asked Harry.

"Yeah. We've basically got the theory and the practicality of how to do it. We just need to be more consistent. And also, we still can't get the staffs to be as long as yours unless we sacrifice how the match looks after the transformation." 

"Well, it's better practicing it on shorter staffs until you can do it consistently. Then try for the longer version of the staff. I should have started you guys on that last night, but I completely forgot about it."

"It's fine. It's not like you've actually taught anyone. Say, for Lumos, could you theoretically make it come from somewhere else, like a ball of light?" asked Hannah.

"Um…no? That would be an entirely different spell. Lumos is to create a light from the tip of the wand only. Same with nox, only it is in regards to extinguishing the light. I am almost positive that if you wanted to create a ball of light and/or extinguish a ball of light, those would be two entirely different spells." 

"Hmm, okay."

"Wait, hold on a second, what are you guys talking about?" asked Megan, as the [red-headed girl] stared at Susan, Hannah, and Harry. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed Ron leaving Harry to answer the questions while he went up to go shower. Ron noticed Harry's eyes on him and gave him a thumbs up before heading up the stairs. Harry rolled his eyes as he turned back to the conversation where Susan was explaining that they had started their own study group since Harry knows a lot of the spells from the first-year curriculum.

"Really?" asked Megan, turning to look at Harry who was explaining some of the ways to be more consistent on the transfiguration spell to Hannah.

"Yep," replied Susan as she watched Hannah perfectly perform the transfiguration spell to change the match into a staff, this time though, it was a bit longer that it had been the night before. Harry grinned.

"That's how you do it, Hannah," said Harry as he got up. "I'll be back down after I shower and we can head down to breakfast. Or I'll meet you at the Great Hall with Ron."

"No, we'll wait," said Susan. Harry nodded and went up the stairs, passing some of his roommates, Wayne and Zacharias, on the way up. Harry entered the dorm room and immediately began stripping, throwing his clothes into the hamper and grabbing his towel. Harry walked out and over to the showers. After turning on the water, Harry brushed his teeth as he waited for the water to warm up.

After the water had warmed to a temperature that was adequate, Harry stepped under the water, sighing in content as the warm water hit his back. The water soothed and relaxed his leg muscles from all the running that he and Ron had done that morning. Harry slowly washed his body as his slowly developing muscles ached in pain. After thoroughly washing himself, Harry stepped out of the shower, grabbed his towel, dried himself before walking back to his room to change into his school uniform. Harry grabbed his bag that had an extension charm on it so he could put as many books as he wanted into the bag.

When Harry got back to the common room, Ron, Ernie, and Justin had all joined Susan, Hannah, and Megan. Ron noticed Harry walking down the stairs and motioned for him to come join them at the table.

"Harry! Are you ready to go eat?"

"Yep." The group of Hufflepuffs exited the common room and began their trek to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Harry why do you and Ron go running in the morning?" asked Susan.

"Well, the reasons are two-fold. One, it's so that when I go home to my relatives, I will be able to outlast him and his friends. in their game of…tag." If Susan could hear Harry's hesitance of naming the game his cousin played, which was really 'Harry Hunting', she didn't mention it, for which he was grateful.

"Uh huh. And the other?"

"To get into shape for Quidditch. Charlie, Ron's brother, said that it would help us a lot for when we try out for the Quidditch team, even though I'm planning on trying out this year. And being in shape could probably help me in duels when I'm older."

"First, how are you going to try out for Quidditch when you don't even have a broom and have never played the game in your life? Second, how it could be helpful in duels later on?" asked Susan, more curious about the second question as she had been raised in an environment where her aunt regularly dueled with her co-workers.

"First question is easy. I understand how the game is played and I would be trying out for the one position that doesn't require a lot of teamwork: the seeker. As for the broom, I'd use one of the school brooms, or I'll ask one of the older students if I can borrow their broom. It doesn't say that I can't try out for Quidditch, just that I can't own a broom."

"And why do you want to try out for Quidditch?" asked Hannah, joining the conversation.

"…cause it would be fun and I've never played organized sports before?" responded Harry, though he sounded unsure of the answer.

"Enough about Quidditch," interrupted Susan. "What's this about dueling?"

"Well," said Harry, "I figure that being able to run a lot means that I won't get tired and by not getting tired, I could dodge spells instead of focusing on blocking incoming spells. I don't know much about dueling yet, but I'm pretty sure that being able to dodge and fire off a counter immediately is better than blocking and giving the opponent time to fire another spell."

"Wait," said Ron, "Are you saying that if you can fire off spell at the same time at dodging the incoming spell, you would have a better chance of landing a solid hit on your opponent in a duel?" Harry shrugged.

"Again, I don't know. I've never dueled, but that is just my assumptions, and my ideas." Meanwhile, all of Harry's friends were staring at the 11-year-old. "What?"

"Are you sure you're eleven?" asked Ernie. "Why are you even thinking about dueling at eleven?"

"…Cause I love learning about magic?" asked Harry, suddenly realizing that maybe it weird that he was already thinking about dueling despite it being years away. Everyone except Megan rolled their eyes at Harry as they entered the Great Hall.

"No, Harry," said Justin, "It's cause you are weird. If you love learning about magic, you do what you did over the summer and learn an insurmountable number of spells. Being obsessed with everything that is magic is learning about dueling before you even have a repertoire of spells that would make learning about dueling useful."

"…so, I'm obsessed with magic?" asked Harry as he sat down on the bench of the Hufflepuff table on the side closer to where the teacher sat.

"Yes!" Harry recoiled at the resounding answer he got from his friends.

"Whatever. If you want to be that way…" said Harry as he spooned some eggs onto his plate. But before he could begin eating, Daphne came over to talk to Harry.

"Harry, here's the plan that I came up with." Before Harry could even respond, Daphne left the parchment on the table before spinning around and heading back to the Slytherin table to sit next to Tracey Davis. Harry picked up the parchment that she had left and began reading.

"Wow."

"What did she write?" asked Ernie.

"She wrote out what she wanted me to cover for the rest of the semester. Tomorrow, she wants us to cover…tripping jinx and the fire-making spell. Oh boy, that's going to be a great lesson."

"We can't do that in the library, Harry!"

"I know Susan. Which is why we won't be in the library tomorrow. Did you honestly think I would keep us in that study room when it's clear that this study group is growing and won't be able to stay in the library for much longer?"

"Well," said Ernie as Megan watched from side as the conversation went back and forth while she calmly ate her eggs, "where are we going to practice?"

"Well," said Harry, grinning, "A little birdie told me of an unused part of Hogwarts that we could use."

"Birdie?" asked Justin.

"Okay. It was a house-elf. But the point is that I found a place that we can meet. And the best part is that there is an entrance to it that is near each common room. You merely need to know where it is. There is no password as only students of that respective house can go through those passages."

"Okay, but unless we know where the entrance in our common room is, we won't be able to find it."

"Yes, that is true. Which is why when we enter the first time, it'll be through the main entrance."

"Which is where?" asked Megan, finally joining in on the conversation."

"The only entrance that the elves could tell us about is on the third floor behind the painting of a knight, a white horse, and midnight-colored owl."

"So, we're going to the area that is off limits?" asked Hannah.

"Yep," said Harry as he finished off his meal. "But after that, we won't have to go there again. We can just go there via the entrance near our common room."

"Alright. Let's go there this afternoon after classes," said Ron as he finished off some bacon and eggs.

"Agreed," said Susan. "But first, I think we need to head to DADA." Harry nodded and folded up the piece of parchment Daphne had given him and placed it in his bag. However before any of them could get up, owls descended into the great hall and started dropping off letters. In the group, only Susan received a letter.

"Is Aunty Amelia wishing you congratulations on getting into Hufflepuff?" asked Hannah, pouring herself some more pumpkin juice.

"Yep," replied Susan, "But she's also asking about Harry and the profit of his books. She wants to meet with you over the holidays." Harry shrugged.

"Okay. Not like I'll have anything better to do, well, except read more about magic." Hannah reached over and gave Harry a smack in the back of his head.

"Focus on something else, Harry. Otherwise you'll just become a stick in the mud." Harry just rolled his eyes at his friend. "I'm serious. If all you do is read and try to learn new magic, then you won't ever progress in any of your friendships."

"…fine. I'll do other stuff during the holidays. Can I stay at Hogwarts during the holidays?" asked Harry.

"I think so," said Ron. "I know my brothers have done that before. Why?"

"Well, at least here I'd be able to go fly with some of the school broomsticks," replied Harry. Harry noticed everyone in the great hall was starting to gather up their things to head out. "Uh, maybe we should head out." Everyone else agreed and the group of friends headed out of the great hall to get to their first DADA class.

|DADA Classroom|

Harry, Susan, Hannah, Ernie, Justin, and Megan entered the DADA classroom to see that they were not the first ones there, but rather Hermione, Neville, and Ria had already beat them to it. Harry and Ron took a seat at the table next to Hermione and Ria.

"Hello Ria," said Harry as he pulled out his textbook, parchment, and quill and placed them onto his desk.

"Hey Harry. How was your first day?"

"Pretty good actually," said Harry. "Most of the classes were fun. I didn't get the extra homework that comes with not having gotten one of the spells down in class and I finally got to learn how to fly on broomstick, so most of yesterday was great."

"Most?"

"…I hate Herbology," grumbled Harry. Ria chuckled at this.

"You…a Hufflepuff hate the class that your head of house teaches. Oh, that is brilliant!" laughed Ria.

"Shut up," retorted Harry. "How was yours?" 

"Well other than Snape being a dick to me in Potions yesterday, everything went well. Well, except flying lessons." 

"What? Did you fall off your broom?"

"I didn't. But Neville did. Dropped his remembrall the day he got it. Luckily, Hermione noticed and picked it up to give it back to him."

"Well, that's good at least," said Harry. "Hello Hermione."

"Hello Harry," said Hermione, tartly before returning to reading her textbook.

"What's with her?" asked Harry.

"She had a run-in with Malfoy on the way to breakfast," replied Ria, but not elaborating on what had happened. Harry shrugged. If she didn't want to share, he didn't care. Harry turned in his seat to join in on the conversation going on between his friends, noticing that Megan had chosen to join Neville at his table rather than sit at an unoccupied table.

Ten minutes later, the rest of the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors started to file into the class along with Quirrell from behind.

"Wel-welcome to DA-DADA," said a stuttering Quirrell, causing Ron to roll his eyes at Harry, who nodded. Harry groaned as he listened to Quirrell stumble and stutter his way through roll call. "O-okay. Now that we h-have taken r-roll c-call, l-let's move onto the lesson. E-everyone standup." The entire class stood up and Quirrell tapped the board where instructions appeared on the board for the jelly-leg jinx. "N-now, who c-can tell me the in-incantation for the s-spell?" Hermione immediately raised her hand. Quirrell pointed to the female Gryffindor.

"Locomotor Wibbly."

"G-good. Now, everyone s-say it w-with me. Locomotor Wibbly!" At the end of his sentence, when Quirrell was pronouncing the spell, Harry was surprised at how confident his voice sounded based off of how much he was stuttering. Everyone intoned the spell, pronouncing the spell correctly. "G-good job. N-now, can a-anyone te-tell me what the w-wand mo-movement is?" Again, Hermione raised her hand, but this time Hannah and Justin also raised their hands. "M-ms. Abbot."

"The wand movement is a squiggly movement."

"T-true, but th-that isn't all of it. 5 p-points to Hu-Hufflepuff. Mr. Finnegan, why don't give it a try." 

"Well, sir, I think it is a squiggly movement that goes up on the left side before another squiggly movement that goes down on the right side. There should be three 'humps' on each side."

"G-good job, Mr. Finnegan. 20 points to Gr-gryffindor. N-now, everyone pl-please copy my movement." Harry and the rest of the class drew took out their wands and started practicing the wand movement. Having done the wand movement many times over the summer, Harry and Ron had perfect wand movements on their first try. Quirrell watched the class critically, pointing out mistakes and inconsistencies with each student's wand movement. "G-good job everyone. Now, be-before we do any p-practical work, l-let's go over what the sp-spell can be used for. Who wi-will start?"

"Professor," said Ron, raising his hand, "This spell could be very useful for pranks. My brothers would use this on my when I was younger so that I couldn't avoid their other prank spells."

"Wh-while cruel, true. Anyone else?"

"A distraction while dueling?" asked Seamus.

"Po-possibly. If the duelist is in-inexperienced, then yes."

"Using it to slow down someone when you are chasing them or running away from someone?" suggested Wayne.

"V-very good. Now, everyone, step into the middle aisle." As soon as everyone had done so, Quirrell waved his wands and the desks flew to the sides of the room. "I-it's time for some pr-practical work. Granger, Potter, t-to the front pl-please." Hermione and Harry both walked to the front, their wands drawn. "N-now, you will both try to cast the spell. I-if your opponent can walk with ease, t-they get 10 points. I-if not, you get 10 points. Understand?" 

"Yes professor," said Harry and Hermione together. They both backed away to give each other space to cast the spell.

"You want to go first?" asked Harry, as he was confident in his ability to use this particular spell.

"Thank you," said Hermione graciously as she started the wand movement. "Locomotor Wibbly!" An orange light hit Harry, and he could feel his legs begin to feel weird, but not enough to take away the functionality of his legs. Harry took a big step to the side, backwards, and then diagonally to end up in his original spot.

"Close," said Harry. "I can still use my legs." Hermione frowned as she tried to think of where she went wrong. "My turn. Locomotor Wibbly!" Harry furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he waved his wand in the correct sequence, sending a bright orange light at Hermione's legs, who immediately collapsed, with her legs not being able to support herself.

"Wh-what? I thought the spell only makes your legs feel weak, not take away my ability to hold myself up altogether!"

"I-fi it is po-powerful enough, the jelly-legs j-jinx can take away all leg mo-movement," corrected Quirrell. "N-now that we have seen wh-what it should lo-look like. Everyone p-pair up. Oh, and 20 points to Hufflepuff." Harry walked back to where his friends were.

"Megan, do you want to pair up?" asked Harry, trying to include the newest member of their group of friends.

"Sure."

"Harry!" Harry turned to look at Susan, who was pairing off with Wayne. "What's your advice before we begin?" Harry rolled his eyes.

"It's the same as with every spell. Intent and control. Picture what you want the spell to do in your mind." Susan nodded and walked over to Wayne to begin practicing. Harry turned his attention back to Megan. "Alright, give me your best shot!" Megan nodded, her burgundy hair bobbing slightly. She aimed her wand right at Harry, who was standing in a stance not too different from southpaw boxer, with the only difference being that he had no fists up, but rather his wand was pointing at Megan.

"Locomotor Wibbly!" Megan fired off a dull orange spell at Harry, hitting him cleanly in the leg. Harry shrugged and took a step to the side to indicate that it didn't affect him.

"Try again, but like I told Susan, imagine what you want my legs to feel. Don't just think not being able to stand. What I should be feeling?" said Harry, trying to give out some pointers on the spell to his fellow classmate. Megan nodded as she pointed her wand at Harry's legs and repeated the incantation along with the wand movement. This time, instead of a dull orange beam of light, a bright orange light flew from Megan's wands and hit Harry in the legs. Harry stumbled and couldn't even bring himself to take a single step forward.

"How was that?" asked Megan. Harry gave her a thumbs up and a smile.

"Great job!" said Harry as he waved his wand at his legs and muttered, "Finite." The numbness and uselessness Harry had been feeling in his legs disappeared and Harry shook out his leg. "Want to try again?" Megan nodded and cast the spell with the same level of success. At the front of the room.

Quirrell gazed around, looking at the different students casting the spell with varying levels of success. So far, seven of the Hufflepuffs had been able to successfully cast the jelly-legs jinx a couple of times whereas only three of the Gryffindors had moderate success. Quirrell raised his wand and made a bell sound, causing every student to look at the front.

"E-everyone, it seems that s-some of you are getting the spell, and some of y-you are h-having trouble. Th-those of you who h-have gotten t-the spell m-may begin reading about the tickling charm. Th-those who h-haven't w-will practice with m-me." Quirrell waved his wand and the desks flew back into places, with only a few staying at the side so as to give the students who hadn't gotten the spell down room to practice with Quirrell.

Harry went back to the seat he had been sitting at and opened up his DADA textbook. But rather than read up on the tickling charm, Harry began to read about the later DADA spells that he had yet to learn. Soon, everyone had gotten the jinx down to a sufficient level that Quirrell was pleased.

"Ve-very good, everyone. I a-am pl-pleased that you were a-able to get the fi-first jinx down easily. No-now for ho-homework, I want you to hand in an e-essay on the di-differences between the three levels of da-dark magic. The in-information can be f-found on p-page 7 in yo-your textbooks." Harry and Ron grinned as they remembered exactly what it was that Quirrell was referring to. "Cl-class dismissed." Harry and his friends left the classroom with the Gryffindors.

"Harry." Harry turned to see Ria, Hermione, and Neville walk up to him.

"Hey. What's up?"

"How did you get that spell down so easily? This was your first time trying it and you used it like you had been doing that particular spell for more than a day. Plus, with the advice that you gave your friends, most of Hufflepuff got the spell down before a single Gryffindor." Harry smiled benignly at the three Gryffindors.

"That's cause it wasn't my first time using that spell. And as for the advice, it comes down to the most fundamental rule of magic: intent. Anyways, I'd love to talk to you about this with you, but we have Transfiguration with McGonagall and I really don't want to be late to her class." Harry sped up to catch up with his classmates, leaving the three Gryffindors in confusion.

|End of the day|

Harry sighed as he dragged himself back into the common room and collapsed in one of the sofas, slamming his head onto the table.

"Ow," groaned Harry, though he did nothing to alleviate the temporary pain.

"You good there?" asked Susan.

"Except for potions and herbology, every class is boring. I know everything already and I can't even goof off or learn something new. It's exhausting being in a class where I don't get to learn anything."

"Well Harry," said Hannah as she sat down in a chair across from Harry, "That's your fault for learning everything you could in one month." Harry looked up to give Hannah the evil eye, but Hannah just gave Harry a wide smile in response. Harry just sighed and put his face back into the table. Ron and Megan walked into the common room to see Harry with his head in the table.

"He still complaining about not being able to learn on his own?" asked Ron. Susan nodded. "Harry, how about we go to the new area that we found to use for our study group?" Harry instantly perked up.

"Now? What about Ernie and Justin"

"Now. We can show them tomorrow. I think they went to go hang out with Zacharias and Wayne. And then we can have a duel, well as much of a duel as we can with our limited arsenal of spells," said Ron. Harry grinned as he raced up to his room, resized his trunk and placed it into his pocket before coming back down with a grin.

"Let's go then." Harry raced out of the common room at a brisk pace, his friends close behind him, as they crawled out of the barrels and up to the third floor. On their way there, they ran into Daphne and Tracey coming back from Transfiguration.

"Where are you guys headed?" asked Daphne.

"Where we're going to be practicing. Come on!" said Harry, grabbing Daphne's hand and dragging her with him as he ran up the stairs. Daphne let out an 'eep' as she got dragged along by the crazy Hufflepuff, with Tracey and the other Hufflepuffs following Harry. Harry ran past the abandoned classroom and stopped at breathtaking picture.

On a canvas outlined by a golden intricate from was the depiction of knight wearing armor reminiscent of knights of yore, seated on a majestic white horse, with a golden mane. Sitting on the arm of the knight was a elegant snow owl with amber eyes. Behind the knight was the background of a rising sun, casting the morning light onto the reflective armor of the knight.

"This…is an impressive painting," said Daphne after catching her breath, "but why did you drag me here?"

"Cause of this. Sir Gregory, patience is the greatest virtue." The knight in the painting nodded his head and the painting swung open to reveal an entrance. Harry stepped forward, entering the space which would become their practice area. Daphne, Tracey, Susan, Hannah, Megan, and Ron entered the room as well and were dumbstruck by what they saw. This was no room. This was reminiscent of a muggle cathedral.

The room was equal to or slightly bigger than that of the great hall. The ceiling was lit by an artificial sky, a sunny light shining within the room. Arching stone columns reached up to the ceiling and a couple of them supported a small loft area at the top of a set of stone spiral stairs. The opposite side of the room housed a long dueling platform, leaving a large open space under the loft and in the middle of the room.

"Welcome," said Harry, "To our secret meeting area." Harry's friends stared in shock. Ron just smiled, but then he frowned.

"Harry, do you think we could find a way to get some furniture in here so that we can have a place to sit while we learn." Harry looked around, and indeed there was no furniture anywhere in the room.

"Yeah, that might be helpful," agreed Harry. "But how the hell are we going to get that? It's not like I can just say, 'Hogwarts, can I have this cathedral area furnished with furniture along with extras in the back corner in case we need them, thanks', now can I?" asked Harry. Not two seconds passed before that exact thing happened. Suddenly there was a pop and in front of Harry stood an elf.

"Mipsy!" cried Harry, recognizing the elf from the kitchens.

"Mister Potter is not supposed to be asking for elves to help him during the school year. Mipsy made an exception, but not again." Harry nodded, as did everyone else. Tracey stared at the elf before she disappeared. As she disappeared, furniture appeared in the loft, in the middle area, and in the space beneath the loft.

"Um… what was that?" asked Tracey.

"House elf. I'll explain later," said Daphne, while Harry stared at where Mipsy disappeared.

"I did not mean for that to happen," mumbled Harry before shrugging. "Anyways, this is our new practice area and if you will note the four symbols around the room that there are entrances that lead to somewhere near each house's common room. Only students of each house can enter the entrance. So I, a Hufflepuff, cannot enter the Slytherin entrance and vice versa."

"That's good," said Daphne. "We will not be the cause for our house common room entrance being discovered again."

"Indeed," said Harry, a knowing smile on his face. "Now, since we are here, Ron and I are going to try and duel for a bit." Harry and Ron walked onto the dueling platform and stood 20 feet away from each other. Harry fished a sickle out of his pocket and held it up. "When this hits the floor…"

"We begin," finished Ron as he got into his dueling stance. Harry did as well before flicking the coin into the air. Bated breaths could be heard as the girls watched Harry and Ron stare at each other as the coin slowly fell to the ground. A clang signaled the start of the duel.

"Fumos," cried Harry, obscuring the dueling platform before shooting off two stinging hexes and a jelly-legs jinx before the smoke could completely obscure his vision. On the other hand, Ron simply moved and dodged the three spells, before blindly launching a knock back jinx, a stinging hex, and a tickling charm.

Harry dove to the ground, just in time to see three spells whiz over his head. As the smoke started to clear, Harry decided to try an unorthodox method. Aiming his wand at ground beneath Ron's feet, Harry cast the softening spell on the dueling platform.

Ron grimaced as he felt his feet sinking into the ground. Ron quickly jumped back as the smoke dissipated to stop from sinking into the dueling platform, while casting 'finite' on the ground before taking aim at Harry who was getting back into a standing stance.

"Flipendo!" cried Ron, shooting off the knockback jinx, knocking Harry back into the air. As Harry flipped through the air, he shot off a stinging hex at Ron's wand arm, making Ron drop his wand as Harry landed flat on his stomach. As he stood up, Harry whipped off three more spells.

"Lumos!" cried Harry, blinding Ron, before continuing with his spell chain, "Incendio, Diffindo!" Harry threw embers at Ron's feet, forcing him to jump back as he grabbed his wand from the floor before he got cut in the arm. Harry rushed forwards, dodging the stinging hexes and knockback jinxes that Ron was sending at him as he cast his own stinging and cutting hexes.

Ron tried to keep Harry out of range, understanding that Harry wanted to knock him on his back and put him at point-blank wand range in order to end the duel, started using multiple fire spells to try and limit Harry's range of movement to make him an easier target for a knockback jinx. Unfortunately, Harry was moving too quick and dodging each instance of fire that Ron conjured.

It wasn't long before Harry was in Ron's grill, sending Ron flying with a point-blank knockback jinx. As Ron fell back to the floor, Harry was immediately on him, his wand pointed at Ron's neck.

"Give?" asked a slightly panting Harry.

"Give." Harry stepped back and held out his hand, which Ron took. Suddenly, both boys heard the sound of clapping from the girls who were watching on as they had dueled.

"Impressive," remarked Daphne. "There usually isn't that much that can be done with first year spells in a duel, but you managed to have an actual proper duel with only first-year spells." Harry and Ron smiled and fist bumped each other as they got off the stage.

"So?" asked Harry, "what do you think of our new practice area?"

"I think," said Susan, "That this place is amazing. And I can't believe you are the first in a long time to find it. Do we need to password protect it?"

"Well the main entrance is already password protected, and for the house specific entrances, the first person to go through them again after so long of them being inactive gets to set the password. Ron and I already set the Hufflepuff password to 'Loyalty to the Last'. Since you and Tracey will be the first Slytherins, you can set it to whatever password you want. Just tell the painting what you want the password to be."

"Okay. Is there anything else that you've hidden in here?"

"Well, no, not yet, but I'm going to start learning some of my family magic in addition to the Hogwarts' curriculum.

"Family magic? You mean like from your family grimoire?" asked Hannah.

"Family grimoire? What the hell is that?" asked Harry. "No, I'm talking about a book that my ancestors created on dueling and I'm pretty sure it's one of the few copies in existence, if there are any other copies."

"Okay, first, let's see this textbook," said Daphne, bringing order to the chaos of topics that was being discussed. "Then we'll talk about your family grimoire and where to find it since you obviously don't have it." Harry nodded and pulled his trunk out of his pocket and tapped it to resize the trunk. Harry rotated the dial to the library section of the trunk and opened it.

"Dueling and the usage of every spell," said Harry as he put his hand into the trunk. Immediately, the textbook flew into his hand as Harry withdrew from his trunk. Harry placed the textbook on the table so that his friends could take a look at it.

"Your ancestor was Gryffindor?" asked Daphne, staring at Harry in shock.

"Yeah, I mean, I guess. I didn't even know who Gryffindor was until Ron told me about the different houses."

"We have a descendant of Gryffindor in Hufflepuff. What are the chances?" asked Susan, elbowing Hannah with a huge grin.

"Right? You haven't started learning any of those spells?"

"Not yet. I did skim through the book, but a majority of it is still beyond me. I don't have the control over my magic to make most of the spells work. I think I can get stupefy and expelliarmus down though."

"Those are in a dueling book?" asked Ron, knowing what those spells did.

"Not really. They were in the non-lethal section of the book. I don't think my ancestors ever used non-lethal spells at the time that this book was written. Now, let's get back to the family grimoire."

"Right," said Daphne, "A family grimoire is basically an ancient and noble family's personal magic. The spells in this textbook and any other spell can be learned by anyone with enough practice and dedication. The magic that comes from the family grimoire cannot be learned by anyone who isn't a member of the family. The only one who could learn the family magic that isn't blood related to you would be your wife."

"Huh, neat. Where do I find this family grimoire?" asked Harry.

"Normally, it would be in your family vault. I assume that you were only taken to your trust vault when you visited Hogwarts."

"…I have more than one vault?" asked Harry.

"By that response, I know you didn't visit the family vault," said Daphne, pushing some hair out of her eye. "If you want to figure out what is your family magic, you're going to have to visit Gringotts over the holidays."

"Got it," said Harry before whispering, "Tempus." Harry smiled when the figure showed that it was still only 5 PM, still at least an hour before dinner. "So," whispered Harry grinning like a madman, "who wants to practice the stinging hex?" Ron was about to start running when Harry hit him with a tripping jinx, making him fall flat on his face. "What's with that reaction?" asked Harry.

"You're a demon when we do dodging practice! Do you remember why you got so good at the basic healing spell? It's because you were constantly using it on me!" cried Ron as he tried to crawl away from Harry.

"What is he talking about?" asked Daphne, looking at Harry in curiosity. Harry just gave a smile that promised pain.

"You'll just have to find out."

**A/N **So, not as long as last chapter. I actually ended up rewriting almost the entire thing cause I lost the original version. Anyways, hope you guys liked it. Please read and review.


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